Westminster Bank Ltd

one of the largest joint-stock banks in Great Britain. First British joint-stock bank.

The Westminster Bank was established in 1834 with a capital of £50,000. It has absorbed approximately 80 banks and has become a powerful banking monopoly. It carries on all types of banking operations, both domestic and foreign. In 1968 this bank had more than 1,400 branches in Britain and correspondent connections with banks in 112 countries. The Westminster’s subsidiary banks are the Ulster Bank in Northern Ireland and the Westminster Foreign Bank in London, the latter with divisions in Belgium and France; it also has a representative office in the USA. It owns shares in the Bank of West Africa and in the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and also shares in many large concerns in heavy and light industry and transportation and insurance companies, with which the bank is closely connected by personal ties. At the end of June 1968 the Westminster’s capital payout amounted to £39.4 million, as against ¿9.3 million in 1945; its deposits were ¿£1,437 million, as against £643 million in 1945. In July 1968 the Westminster Bank merged with the National Provincial Bank of the “Big Five.” As a result a new, gigantic banking monopoly came into being—the National Westminster Bank, whose summary balance at the end of June 1969 amounted to £3,212.2 million; its capital payout was £78.1 million, and its deposits amounted to £2,738 million.