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Midland Bank plc was one of the Big Four banking groups in the United Kingdom for most of the 20th century. It is now part of
HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...
. The bank was founded as the Birmingham and Midland Bank in Union Street,
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
, England in August 1836. It expanded in the
Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefor ...
, absorbing many local banks, and merged with the Central Bank of London in 1891, becoming the London City and Midland Bank. After a period of nationwide expansion, including the acquisition of many smaller banks, the name Midland Bank Ltd was adopted in 1923. By 1934, it was the largest deposit bank in the world. It was listed on the
London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...
, and was once a constituent of the
FTSE 100 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is the United Kingdom's best-known stock market index of the 100 most highly capitalised blue chips listed on ...
, but in June 1992, it was taken over by HSBC Holdings plc, which phased out the Midland Bank name by June 1999 in favour of HSBC Bank. On 10 June 2015, HSBC announced that it would be rebranding its branches in the United Kingdom. HSBC chairman Douglas Flint described the Midland brand as "odds on favourite" for a return to the high street. In September 2015, it was announced that the Midland Bank name would not be revived, and the branch network in the United Kingdom would be branded "HSBC UK".


History


Early history

Midland Bank was founded by Charles Geach, its first manager in Union Street,
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
, England, in August 1836. Geach had formerly worked at the
Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...
; he secured the business support and capital backing of leading merchants and manufacturers in Birmingham.HSBC Group in Europe
In the 1830s and 1840s, Midland offered discounted bills of exchange for customers. By the 1850s the bank's customers included railways, iron founders and engineering concerns, utilities and municipal corporations. Midland acquired
Stourbridge Stourbridge () is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Situated on the River Stour, Worcestershire, River Stour, the town lies around west of Birmingham, at the southwester ...
Old Bank in 1851 and Nichols, Baker and Crane of Bewdley in 1862.


Acquisitions and development in its first 50 years

From the 1880s, it expanded its customer base by opening new branches and acquiring other banks. In 1891 it acquired the Central Bank of London (which gave Midland a seat in the London
Bankers' Clearing House Cheque clearing (or check clearing in American English) or bank clearance is the process of moving cash (or its equivalent) from the bank on which a cheque is drawn to the bank in which it was deposited, usually accompanied by the movement of the c ...
, in 1898 it bought the City Bank (which provided a
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
head office), in 1901 it acquired the Sheffield Union Bank, in 1913 the Sheffield and Hallamshire Bank and, in 1914, it acquired the Birmingham Banking Company. By 1918, with deposits of £335 million, it ranked as the largest bank in the world. Edward Hopkinson Holden led the bank at this time first as managing director from 1898 to 1908 and then as chairman and managing director from 1908 until his death in 1919. He oversaw more than twenty bank amalgamations between 1891 and 1918, and opened new 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 ...
. Holden also expanded overseas; it was the first
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
bank to set up a foreign exchange department and, by 1919, it was acting as London bank to some 650 correspondent banks throughout the world. From 1907, these correspondents included The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. After the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, the leading British banks entered an agreement with the government that they would not attempt further amalgamations without Treasury approval. As a result, Midland turned its attention to expanding its branch network, adding new banking services, mechanising its systems (from 1928) and advertising its activities.


Post-war recovery and international alliances

Midland responded to the ending of credit restrictions in 1958, by extending its branch network and by introducing a series of innovative services, including personal loans (1958), personal cheque accounts (1958) and cheque cards (1966). In 1958, it acquired Forward Trust, which became a leader in instalment finance, leasing and factoring services. In 1967, Midland acquired a share in Montagu Trust, the owner of Samuel Montagu & Co., and thereby became the first British clearing bank to own a London
merchant bank A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage, it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in comm ...
. Samuel Montagu, with its own history dating back to 1853, became a wholly owned subsidiary in 1974, and is now part of
HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...
's private banking business. Through the acquisition of Samuel Montagu & Co, Midland also gained a majority share in Guyerzeller Bank AG (now HSBC Guyerzeller Bank) in Switzerland. Further diversification followed in 1972, when Midland was the leading member of the consortium that acquired the
Thomas Cook Thomas Cook (22 November 1808 – 18 July 1892) was the founder of the travel agency Thomas Cook & Son. He was born into a poor family in Derbyshire and left school at the age of ten to start work as a gardener's boy. He served an appren ...
travel business. After becoming sole owner in 1977, Midland sold its interest in 1992. In 1974, Midland began to open branches or representative offices in overseas countries and to acquire other international banks. The largest of these was the purchase of a majority share in Crocker National of
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, United States: this was not a success and Midland was forced to take full ownership in 1985 so that it could sell it to
Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with a significant global presence. The company operates in 35 countries and serves over 70 million customers worldwide. It is a systemically important fi ...
the following year. In 1980, Midland acquired a controlling interest in Trinkaus & Burkhardt KGaA, a private bank in Germany with a long history of its own, today HSBC Trinkaus. In 1984, in a bid to grab market share Midland scrapped current account charges. It was so successful that all other banks in the United Kingdom had to quickly follow and offer the same or risk losing their customers. The country has had free banking ever since.


Midland joins the HSBC Group

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation acquired a 14.9% equity interest in Midland Bank in 1987, and a strong working relationship developed. In October 1989, First Direct was established and was at the forefront of
telephone banking Telephone banking is a service provided by a bank or other financial institution that enables customers to perform over the telephone a range of financial transactions that do not involve cash or financial instruments (such as checks) without the ...
, with person to person service available twenty four hours a day, 365 days a year. In June 1992, following a brief bidding war with
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 ...
, HSBC Holdings plc acquired full ownership of Midland Bank. At the time, it was one of the largest acquisitions in banking history, and gave HSBC a major foothold in
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
, which it needed to complement its existing business in
Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
and the
Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...
, when it had to move its
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
–based headquarters to London on 1 January 1993, accepting primary banking supervision by the Bank of England. In 1997, Midland Bank underwent a total rebrand to match its parent company, with its familiar griffin logo being dropped after 32 years in favour of the HSBC "hexagon" symbol, albeit with the "Midland Bank" name placed next to it. Midland Bank was renamed
HSBC Bank HSBC Bank may refer to any one of the following principal local banks or divisions of the HSBC Group: Asia-Pacific * HSBC (Hong Kong) ** PayMe, its local payment service * HSBC Bank (China) * HSBC Bank Australia * HSBC Bank India * HSBC Bank Malays ...
in June 1999, as part of the adoption of the HSBC brand throughout the Group. Prior to this, a Midland Bank branch in
Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...
became the first to bear the HSBC name in the UK, albeit with "Midland Bank plc" still featuring on the plaque near the entrance. The last head office of Midland Bank, opposite the Bank of England in
Poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of harvesting animal products such as meat, Eggs as food, eggs or feathers. The practice of animal husbandry, raising poultry is known as poultry farming. These birds are most typ ...
and Princes Street, was sold in October 2006 to a tycoon from Russia, with HSBC vacating the banking hall on the ground floor and huge underground deposit vaults in 2007. In 2012 the ground floor was used in the
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
game show The Bank Job. The architect John Alfred Gotch designed the building, with assistance from
Sir Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memorials ...
. Built between 1921 and 1939, and symbol of the 1930s pride of the biggest bank in the world, the building is now The Ned Hotel City of London. Until around 2020, the HSBC UK SWIFT code (all offices in the United Kingdom) remained ''MIDLGB22'', reflecting its past as the Midland Bank.


Branding

Midland Bank was famous for its golden
griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (; Classical Latin: ''gryps'' or ''grypus''; Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk ...
logo, surrounded by golden coins originally introduced in 1965 on a black, then later blue background, and for its slogan "the listening bank", written by the advertising executive Rod Allen. Advertisements for the bank appeared in the popular computer game ''
Theme Park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...
''. An animated friendly version of the Griffin fronted the bank's television advertising during the 1980s. Midland Bank still traded as Midland Bank, but started adopting an HSBC byline by the early 1990s, started using the HSBC logo from 1997, and was finally rebranded as
HSBC Bank HSBC Bank may refer to any one of the following principal local banks or divisions of the HSBC Group: Asia-Pacific * HSBC (Hong Kong) ** PayMe, its local payment service * HSBC Bank (China) * HSBC Bank Australia * HSBC Bank India * HSBC Bank Malays ...
in June 1999, as part of the adoption of the HSBC brand throughout the group. However, a dormant subsidiary, Midland Bank (Branch Nominees) Limited, continues to be registered at
Companies House Companies House is the executive agency of the British Government that maintains the Company register, register of companies, employs the company registrars and is responsible for Incorporation (business), incorporating all forms of Company, co ...
. File:TheNed emblem.jpg, Coat of arms and initials of Midland Bank in the 1930s, above its side entrance on Princes Street, London File:Midland bank.svg, First "griffin" logo, used from 1957 to 1988 File:Midland-Bank-Logo-1989.png, Second "griffin" logo used from 1988 to 1997 File:Midland-Bank-Logo-1997.png, Final logo used from 1997 to 1999 (HSBC logo with "Midland Bank" name)


References


External links


Archived website
ref>
* {{Authority control 1836 establishments in England 1999 disestablishments in England Banks established in 1836 Banks disestablished in 1999 Defunct companies based in Birmingham, West Midlands Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Defunct banks of the United Kingdom History of Birmingham, West Midlands HSBC acquisitions British companies disestablished in 1999 British companies established in 1836 1990 mergers and acquisitions