British Linen Bank

The British Linen Bank was a commercial bank based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was acquired by the Bank of Scotland in 1969 and served as the Bank's merchant bank arm from 1977 until 1999.

History

Foundation

The Bank traces its roots to the creation of the British Linen Company which was formed in 1746 by a Royal Charter from King George II. Although a Scottish organisation, the prefix "British" was used instead of Scottish due to the suspicion aroused by all things Scottish after the Jacobite Rising of 1745. The initial aim of the Company was to promote the linen industry, although it soon moved into banking and issued its first notes in 1747.^[1] In 1837, the Company acquired the Paisley Banking Company.

Originally based in Edinburgh, the Company began to expand throughout Scotland, opening 9 branches outside the capital. In 1906 it formally changed its name to the British Linen Bank.

Mergers

In the post World War I period, a wave of consolidation in the UK banking market so many of the smaller Scottish banks acquired by larger rivals from England. In 1919, the British Linen Bank was acquired by Barclays Bank based in London, although it retained a separate board of directors and continued to issue its own bank notes.

In 1969, the Bank of Scotland agreed a deal with Barclays to acquire the British Linen Bank, with Barclays taking a 35% stake in the enlarged Bank.

Merchant Bank

The merger with the Bank of Scotland was finalised with the Bank of Scotland Order Confirmation Act 1970, confirming the transfer of the assets and liabilities of the British Linen Bank to the Bank of Scotland, and the two were quickly integrated - for example the British Linen Bank's Glasgow headquarters building on Ingram Street was demolished by the Bank of Scotland to make way for a concrete office building which was built in 1971.

The Act however allowed British Linen Bank to continue as a separate company, and in 1977 the Bank resumed as the merchant bank arm of the Bank of Scotland.

However in 1999, the Bank of Scotland decided to stop using the British Linen Bank name, renaming its merchant bank activities as Bank of Scotland Treasury Services, later HBOS Treasury Services following the Bank's merger with Halifax plc to form HBOS.

In April 2000 the British Linen Bank finally closed its headquarters doors at 4 Melville Street, Edinburgh.

British Linen Advisors

In 2000, the British Linen Advisors was formed by the acquisition of the corporate finance operations from the Bank of Scotland by an independent group of businessmen.

External links

• Lloyds Banking Group Bank of Scotland 'family tree'
• British Linen Advisors

References

1. ^ Pick, Albert (1990). Standard Catalog of World Paper Money: Specialized Issues. Colin R. Bruce II and Neil Shafer (editors) (6th ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87341-149-8.