Birmingham Midshires is an online trading name of

Bank of Scotland The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial bank, commercial and clearing (finance), clearing bank based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group. The bank was established by the Par ...

plc (part of

Lloyds Banking Group Lloyds Banking Group plc is a British financial institution formed through the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2009. It is one of the UK's largest financial services organisations, with 30 million customers and 65,000 employees. Lloyds B ...

). It was headquartered at

Pendeford Pendeford is a suburb of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is situated north-north-west of the city centre, within the Oxley, Wolverhampton, Oxley Ward (politics), ward ...

Business Park,

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

. It previously had 67 branches throughout England and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. Previously, Birmingham Midshires was a

building society A building society is a financial institution owned by its members as a mutual organization, which offers banking institution, banking and related financial services, especially savings and mortgage loan, mortgage lending. They exist in the Unit ...

, known as the Birmingham Midshires Building Society.

History

The Birmingham Midshires was formed on 30 June 1986 by the merger of the Birmingham and Bridgwater and the Midshires Building Societies. These societies could trace their roots back to 1849 and were themselves formed by the mergers of the following societies: Liverpool Building Society, Wolverhampton and Mercia, Bristol Equitable Permanent Benefit, Swansea & Gower Permanent, and the Warrington Workingmens' Permanent. Birmingham Midshires offered a range of specialist mortgage and savings products. In 1998, the Birmingham Midshires Building Society agreed to a takeover bid from the

Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland Public Limited Company () is a major retail banking, retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest and Ulster Bank. The Royal Bank of Sco ...

. However the deal collapsed when

Halifax plc Halifax (previously known as Halifax Building Society and colloquially known as The Halifax) is a British banking brand operating as a trading division of Bank of Scotland, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group. It is named ...

tabled a more lucrative offer. Halifax itself became a part of HBOS plc when it merged with the

in 2001. In 2007, it became a division of Bank of Scotland plc following a reorganisation in the HBOS Group. When Birmingham Midshires became part of the Halifax in April 1999, it had savings balances of £5.9 billion and mortgage assets of £9.2 billion. BM savings balances later doubled to £12 billion; mortgage assets more than trebled to over £32 billion. On 15 September 2005 Birmingham Midshires announced it was planning to close 48 of its 67 branches, through a phased programme concluding in March 2006, and the conversion of the remaining outlets to the Halifax brand. Customers were given the option of banking at their nearest Halifax branch and the 470 full and part-time BM employees were offered an alternative role at the company or within the wider Halifax branch network. In 2008 HBOS plc was taken over by

Lloyds Bank Lloyds Bank plc is a major British retail banking, retail and commercial bank with a significant presence across England and Wales. It has traditionally been regarded one of the "Big Four (banking)#England and Wales, Big Four" clearing house ...

and it is now part of the

. Its main headquarters were rebranded as Lloyds, and different sectors and work were moved to and from the site. It was announced in April 2024 that the former Birmingham Midshires head office would close and all remaining Lloyds Banking Group staff would relocate to the newly-refurbished Colmore Row office in Birmingham by the end of 2025. As of July 2024, all Birmingham Midshires savings accounts have been closed, and its website states it is closed to new and existing customers for savings and to new customers for mortgages.

References

External links

*
Birmingham Midshires merger history chart
{{Former UK Building Societies Lloyds Banking Group Bank of Scotland Banks established in 1986 Companies based in Wolverhampton 1986 establishments in England