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List of banks in the United Kingdom
This is a list of banks operating in the United Kingdom. Central bankThe Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom. The Big FourBritish banking has been highly consolidated since the early 20th century. Unlike some other major economies, the UK does not have a major stratum of independent local banks. The number of independent banks shrank further during 2008: Northern Rock was nationalised by the UK Government (and is now owned by Virgin Money), followed by Bradford & Bingley; Alliance & Leicester was acquired by Santander, who merged it into Santander UK. On 18 September 2008, Lloyds TSB plc entered into a confirmed agreement to take over HBOS plc (HBOS plc included Halifax Bank and The Bank of Scotland), which took effect on 19 January 2009, when HBOS was acquired and folded into Lloyds Banking Group.[1][2][3] The retail and commercial banking markets are dominated by HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and NatWest Group in addition to Spanish-owned Santander UK which some people[who?] argue should be apart of the "Big 4" making it the big 5, however its Spanish origins hinder its credibility as a British bank despite its ability to act autonomously and independently from the Spanish bank itself as it is "managed by its own local team and is responsible solely for its performance away from its Spanish owners"[citation needed] (most of these companies operate more than one banking brand in the UK). As well as this, the Nationwide Building Society (commonly referred to as "Nationwide"), and Standard Chartered both make compelling arguments to be the fifth and sixth members of the elite group with both banks even surpassing one or two of the "Big 4" Banks in some areas of performance.[original research?][citation needed] In addition to this the Bank of England is also an extremely high performer in global banking but its private and state-run status keeps it out of the "Big 4" as the group is solely reserved for private companies,[citation needed] all of which are listed on the London Stock Exchange as of 2024. The largest of the "Big 4" banks in every relevant metric is HSBC Holding (the HongKong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) which, despite its name, is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, with historical links to business in East Asia. It is the largest bank in Europe and the 7th largest in the world by total AUM (assets under management) and 9th largest in the world by market cap.[citation needed]
Retail banksThese banks provide retail services to the general public. Retail banks are usually known as High street banks as they traditionally had multiple branch locations in the cities and towns across the UK. However 40% of branches closed between 2012 and 2022 .[8] Four British retail banks have never had a physical branch presence. The retail and commercial banking markets are dominated by five big banks. HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest Group and Spanish-owned Santander UK who operate more than one banking brand in the UK.
Retail banks owned by retailersThere are a number of other retail banking businesses owned by retailers including:
Former
Building societies in the UKThe other main class of consumer financial service organisation in the United Kingdom is the building society. The building society sector has become much smaller with fewer building societies. This was caused, firstly, a number of building societies demutualising in the 1980s and 1990s and subsequently, taken over by banks. Secondly, there has been ongoing consolidation via mergers between societies. There are 42 building societies in the UK as of 2021 which provide retail banking services to the general public. The five largest as of October 2020 are:
UK banking brands owned by foreign banks
Banks incorporated in the UKA full list of businesses considered banks by the Prudential Regulation Authority are listed in the table below. The list is based on the definition of 'bank' in the glossary of the PRA Handbook.[22] There is also a government-run savings bank called National Savings and Investments. See also
Notes
References
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