Banking in The United Kingdom - 20th Century

20th Century

With the outbreak of war banking flourished and the so called ‘’Big Five’’ commenced a series of takeovers and mergers. These banks, Westminster, National Provincial, Barclays, Lloyds and Midland were eventually reined in by government control.

Between the wars, there was a decline to match the general depression of the time. But the banks fought back by taking action to recruit less wealthy customers and by introducing small saving schemes.

It would take until 1950 for real recovery where there was a huge increase in provincial branch offices and the emergence of the high street bank. Relaxation of some controls over mergers and acquisitions led to consolidation in the 1960s in which the Big Five became the Big Four, along with the takeover of several regional banks (Martins, District Bank, National Bank, Glyn Mills and William Deacons). At the same time the government launched a new banking service, the National Girobank. In 1976 the Banking Act increased the supervisory role of the Bank of England.

Introduction of computing, credit cards and many new services continued to drive the expansion of banks and as deregulation was introduced competitiveness increased. Banks improved services, refurbished antiquated premises and brought in further technology such as ATM.