National Westminster Bank - History

History

The bank's origins date back to 1650 with the foundation of Smith's Bank of Nottingham. The creation of the modern bank was announced in 1968 and National Westminster Bank Limited commenced trading on 1 January 1970, after the statutory process of integration had been completed in 1969. The famous three arrowheads symbol was adopted as the new bank's logo; said either to symbolise circulation of money in the financial system or the bank's three constituents, National Provincial, Westminster, and District Bank (established 1829), the latter being taken over by National Provincial Bank in 1962 and allowed to operate under its own name until the formation of National Westminster Bank. The District, National Provincial, and Westminster Bank were fully integrated in the new firm's structure, while Coutts & Co. private bankers (a 1920 National Provincial acquisition, established 1692), Ulster Bank in Northern Ireland (a 1917 Westminster acquisition, established 1836) and the Isle of Man Bank (a 1961 National Provincial acquisition, established 1865) continued as separate operations. Westminster Foreign Bank (established 1913) was restyled International Westminster Bank in 1973. Duncan Stirling, outgoing chairman of Westminster Bank, became first chairman of the fifth largest bank in the world. In 1969 David Robarts, former chairman of National Provincial, assumed Stirling's position. In 1975 it was one of the first London banks to open a representative office in Scotland. It was a founder member of the Joint Credit Card Company (with Lloyds Bank, Midland Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland) which launched the Access credit card (now MasterCard) in 1972 and in 1976 it introduced the Servicetill cash machine. The same banks (although this time not including Lloyds) were later responsible for the introduction of the Switch debit card (later branded Maestro) in 1988.