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49-668: National Provincial Bank was a retail bank which operated in England and Wales . It was created in 1833 as National Provincial Bank of England, and expanded largely by taking over a number of other banks. Following the transformative acquisition of the Union Bank of London in 1918, it changed its name to National Provincial and Union Bank of England, then in 1924 shortened its name again to National Provincial Bank. It further acquired Coutts Bank in 1920, Grindlays Bank in 1924, Isle of Man Bank in 1961, District Bank in 1962, thus becoming one of

98-457: A corresponding adjustment of accounts of the banks themselves. If there are not enough funds in the account when the cheque arrived at the issuing bank, the cheque would be returned as a dishonoured cheque marked as non-sufficient funds . Cheques came into use in England in the 1600s. The person to whom the cheque was drawn (the "payee") could go to the drawer's bank ("the issuing bank") and present

147-536: A dormant non-trading company until 2016, when it was voluntarily struck off the register and dissolved. The bishop's gate device on the bank's emblem was part of a pictorial representation of the bank's address at 15 Bishopsgate in the City of London. It is surmounted by two squirrels (suggested by the College of Arms as denoting thrift and foresight) supporting an urn; this alludes to The Flower Pot Inn which originally stood on

196-653: A forerunner of Joplin’s English version. Joplin left the management of the Irish Bank in 1828. Financial support from his cousin George Angas was promised in 1829 and a company was formed in 1830. The first meeting resolved to establish a "system of banking …under the review of a central board in London [and] applied to the direction of country banking". There were numerous delays but the National Provincial Bank of England

245-459: A large room in Lombard Street, about 30 clerks from the several London bankers take their stations, in alphabetical order, at desks placed round the room; each having a small open box by his side, and the name of the firm to which he belongs in large characters on the wall above his head. From time to time other clerks from every [banking] house enter the room, and passing along, drop into the box

294-726: A major expansion acquiring in particular the private Cripplegate Bank in 1900, Smith's Bank in 1902, and Prescott's Bank in 1903, thereby forming the Union of London and Smith’s Bank. Prescott’s Bank had been founded in Threadneedle Street in 1766 and went through several name changes over the years as partners changed. However, in 1891 a multiple merger radically changed the scope of the Bank. Prescott’s acquired Dimsdale, another long-established London private bank; Miles , Cave, Baillie of Bristol (established 1750); and Tugwell Brymer of Bath ;

343-407: Is drawn to the bank in which it was deposited, usually accompanied by the movement of the cheque to the paying bank, either in the traditional physical paper form or digitally under a cheque truncation system. This process is called the clearing cycle and normally results in a credit to the account at the bank of deposit, and an equivalent debit to the account at the bank on which it was drawn, with

392-399: Is not in order if, for example, the date is invalid, the drawer's signature is not like the one held by the bank, the wrong number of signatories have signed the cheque, etc. There must also be sufficient cleared funds in the account before the drawer's account is debited. Cheques drawn on another bank (termed "the issuing bank" or "paying bank") need to be "presented" to the other bank before

441-797: Is now operated by the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company , the United Kingdom's clearing house. The Suffolk Bank opened the first clearing house in 1818 in Boston, and one was incorporated in New York in 1850. A clearing house for bankers was opened in Philadelphia in 1858. The Americans improved on the British check clearing system and opened a bankers' clearing house, the Clearing House Association , in

490-484: The Automated Clearing House (ACH) for smaller payments which complete in two business days, and Clearing House Interbank Payments System (CHIPS) for larger value same day payments. "CHIPS is the largest private-sector U.S.-dollar funds-transfer system in the world, clearing and settling an average of $ 1.5 trillion in cross-border and domestic payments daily. It combines best of two types of payments systems:

539-455: The Bank of New York on Wall Street, New York in 1853. Instead of the slow London procedure in which each bank clerk, one at a time, stepped up to an Inspector's rostrum, in the New York procedure two bank clerks from each bank all worked simultaneously. One clerk from each bank sat inside a 70 foot long oval table, while the second clerk from each bank stood outside the table facing the other clerk from

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588-513: The "Big Five" that dominated the UK banking sector for much of the 20th century, together with Barclays Bank , Lloyds Bank , Midland Bank and Westminster Bank . On 1 January 1970, it completed its merger with Westminster Bank to form National Westminster Bank . For most of its history, National Provincial Bank was headquartered in London on Bishopsgate , at junction with Threadneedle Street . Prior to

637-487: The 'Big Five' would not be permitted." Nevertheless, the financial authorities did permit the merger and a new company, National Westminster Bank , was formed to acquire the share capital of the two constituent banks. The statutory process of integration was completed in 1969 and the new company opened for business on 1 January 1970. The enlarged entity now had a network of 3,600 branches. The National Provincial Bank, District Bank, and Westminster Bank were fully integrated in

686-410: The 1918 merger, in particular the prestigious London-based Coutts Bank in 1920. Significant regional banks included Bradford District Bank (1919), Sheffield Banking Company (1919) and Northamptonshire Union Bank (1920). In 1924 the small Guernsey Banking Co. was to be the Bank's last domestic acquisition until 1961 and National Provincial’s progress came from continued branch opening, particularly around

735-636: The Act also prohibited joint stock banks themselves, an ambiguity that was removed by the Bank Charter Act 1833. When Thomas Joplin discovered that the laws preventing the establishment of joint stock banks in Ireland had been repealed in 1824, he promoted the Irish Provincial Banking Company, to be based in London but with branches in all the principal towns in Ireland outside Dublin; this was to be

784-459: The Act of 1826, English banks were permitted to have no more than six partners – hence the expression "private banks". The only banks allowed to be joint stock were the Bank of England and the Scottish banks, which operated under a different legal system. The leading campaigner for change was Thomas Joplin , a Newcastle timber merchant "with local experience of banking disasters" and an observer of

833-668: The Indian army. Grindlays had been affected by the failure of competing banks and sought a larger partner. Grindlays was allowed to operate independently and was sold to the London-based National Bank of India in 1948. In 1961 National Provincial acquired the Isle of Man Bank but the major acquisition came in 1962 when the District Bank was bought, creating a company with over £1.4 billion in assets and 2,100 branches. The District, being

882-512: The London area. National Provincial did have a small overseas operation in the form of a 50 per cent share of Lloyds and National Provincial Foreign Bank in Paris , which it had acquired in 1917 and part-sold to Lloyds Bank in 1955. However, its more substantive overseas move came in 1924 with the acquisition of Grindlays Bank , a London-based institution with offices in India and specialising in serving

931-442: The Scottish one, and the Bank reinforced this by recruiting Daniel Robertson from the Union Bank of Scotland; he served as general manager for thirty years. Many of the branches that were "opened" during the nineteenth century came from the acquisition of local banks, sometimes as a going concern, sometimes merely taking over the premises after a failure. Sources vary as to the number of acquisitions, their common trading name and even

980-611: The U.S., the term commercial bank is used for a normal bank to distinguish it from an investment bank . After the Great Depression , the Glass–Steagall Act restricted normal banks to banking activities, and investment banks to capital market activities. That distinction was repealed in the 1990s. Commercial bank can also refer to a bank or a division of a bank that deals mostly with deposits and loans from corporations or large businesses, as opposed to individual members of

1029-486: The Union Bank was located at Princes Street on Bank Junction , across from the Bank of England . On that site the bank erected a prominent new head office building, designed by Philip Charles Hardwick and completed in 1865, remodeled in 1887. That building was in turn replaced by the branch building of National Provincial Bank on the same location, designed by Edwin Cooper and completed in 1932. Further acquisitions followed

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1078-461: The capital. The first branch to be opened, at the beginning of 1834, was in Gloucester followed by Brecon , Walsall , Birmingham , Wotton-under-Edge , Boston and Wisbech . By 1836 there were 32 branches. Considerable dissension soon arose relating to the structure of the branch system and Joplin, who favoured a network of local semi-autonomous banks, left. The model for the branch system had been

1127-489: The cheque and receive payment. Before payment, the drawer's bank would check that the cheque was in order – e.g., that the signature was that of the drawer, that the date was valid, that the cheque was properly set out, etc. Alternatively, the payee could deposit the cheque with their own bank who would arrange for it to be presented to the issuing bank for payment. Until around 1770 an informal exchange of cheques took place between London banks. Clerks of each bank visited all of

1176-408: The cheque is not in order, or if there are not enough cleared funds in the account when the cheque arrived at the issuing bank, the cheque would be returned as a dishonoured cheque marked appropriately, such as " non-sufficient funds " or "present again". All banks might have clerks to take cheques drawn on other banks to those banks, and wait for payment. Clearing houses were set up to streamline

1225-561: The cheques due by that firm to the house from which this distributor is sent. Beginning at 5 pm, a clerk for each debtor bank was called to go to a rostrum to pay in cash to the Inspector of the Clearing House the amount their bank owed to other banks on that day. After all of the debtor clerks had paid the Inspector, each clerk for the banks that were owed money went to the rostrum to collect the money owed to their bank. The total cash paid by

1274-403: The date of the termination of the banker customer contract. Information attained from other sources, such as a credit reference agency , is also covered. The duty is not absolute for the bank may disclose information where the disclosure is under compulsion by law, where there is a duty to the public to disclose, where the interests of the bank require disclosure and where the disclosure is made by

1323-657: The debtor banks equaled the total cash collected by the creditor banks. On the rare occasions when the total paid did not equal the total collected, other clerks working for the Inspector would examine the paper trail of documents so that the numerical errors could be found and corrected. During the Second World War , the Bankers' Clearing House was evacuated to the Trentham Estate in Staffordshire. The clearing operation

1372-435: The deposit bank receives payment to cover the amount credited to the depositor's account. In the absence of the paying bank notifying the deposit bank of the "special clearance" of the cheque, for example, following a request from the deposit bank, the funds become available after the passing of an agreed "clearance period", commonly three business days, when the depositor's account is described as comprising "cleared funds". If

1421-411: The depositor's account with the amount of the cheque. However, the amount so credited is "not available" to the depositor until the cheque has been cleared by the paying bank. For cheques drawn on a customer of the same bank, the bank would, usually on the next business day, ensure that the cheque is in order and debit the account of the drawer, and the cheque would be taken to have been cleared. A cheque

1470-406: The early 19th century. It was founded by Lubbock's Bank on Lombard Street in a single room where clerks for London banks met each day to exchange cheques and settle accounts. In 1832 Charles Babbage , who was a friend of a founder of the Clearing House, published a book on mass production, The Economy of Machinery and Manufactures, in which Babbage described how the Clearing House operated: In

1519-543: The enlarged firm was called Prescott, Dimsdale, Cave, Tugwell & Co. Several more small country banks were later acquired and the Bank’s name was shortened to Prescott & Co. in 1903, shortly before its acquisition by the Union Bank. The National Provincial Bank eventually acquired the Union of London and Smith’s Bank in 1918. The enlarged bank was renamed the National Provincial and Union Bank of England. From 1844 on,

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1568-505: The exact year of purchase. However, although they may have been strategic in their own locality, none of the acquisitions appeared to be large. It was not until 1866 that the bank opened for banking business in London by which time it had a nationwide network of 122 branches. The bank ceased its provincial note issue and was appointed to the London Bankers' Clearing House . By 1886 the National Provincial Bank had 165 branches and its network

1617-433: The express or implied consent of the customer. Retail bank Banking services which are regarded as retail include provision of savings and transactional accounts , mortgages , personal loans , debit cards , and credit cards . Retail banking is also distinguished from investment banking or commercial banking . It may also refer to a division or department of a bank which deals with individual customers. In

1666-426: The first two digits. The cheques would be removed, and each stack sorted into the same dividers by the third and fourth digits. The process was iterated until the cheques were completely sorted. Top Tab Key used a physical mechanism: holes were punched in the top of each cheque representing the values of various digits, and metal keys used to physically move them until sorted. Magnetic ink character recognition (MICR)

1715-404: The greater stability of the nearby Scottish banks. The Act of 1826 permitted the establishment of joint stock banks but note issue was only allowed outside a radius of 65 miles of London. The 1826 Act was followed by the creation of new provincial joint stock banks and conversions from existing private banks. Because of the prohibition on note issue in the London area, it was incorrectly assumed that

1764-478: The new firm's structure, while Coutts, Ulster Bank (a 1917 Westminster acquisition), and the Isle of Man Bank continued as separate operations. Duncan Stirling, chairman of Westminster Bank, became first chairman and each bank provided a joint chief executive. In 1969, David Robarts, former chairman of National Provincial, assumed Stirling's position. Following the merger, the National Provincial Bank continued to exist as

1813-453: The one-time Manchester and Liverpool District Banking Company, gave the National Provincial valuable exposure to the north west. It maintained a separate board in Manchester until the merger with Westminster Bank. The merger of National Provincial and Westminster Bank , announced in 1968, surprised the British public and banking community "as it was still widely assumed...that any merger among

1862-608: The other banks to exchange cheques, whilst keeping a tally of balances between them until they settled with each other. Daily cheque clearings began around 1770 when the bank clerks met at the Six Bells, a tavern in Dove Court off Lombard Street in the City of London, to exchange all their cheques in one place and settle the balances in cash. The first organization for clearing cheques was the Bankers' Clearing House , established in London in

1911-444: The oval table. When the manager signaled again, this procedure was repeated, so that after about six minutes, the clerks had completed all their assigned transactions and were back to their starting locations, and holding exactly the amount of cash their papers said they should be holding. Clerks were fined if they made errors and the amount of the fine increased rapidly as time passed. The Federal Reserve System check clearing system

1960-443: The process by collected all cheques drawn on other banks, and collecting payment from those banks for the total to be cleared. As volume grew, more efficient sorting methods were developed. Approaching the 1940s, two popular methods were Sort-A-Matic and Top Tab Key. Sort-A-Matic involved a set of metal or leather dividers numbered 00 through 99, operated to implement a form of radix sort : cheques would be sorted by hand according to

2009-424: The process, a depositor would make an image of the physical cheque with a smartphone or other device, and attach the image to a deposit. The deposit bank would use the cheque image in the normal electronic clearance process, though in this case MICR data would not be available. As the automation of cheque processing improved, fully electronic payment systems obviated the need for paper. Two methods were developed:

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2058-459: The public (retail banking). Typical banking services offered by retail banks include: In some countries, such as the U.S., retail bank services also include more specialised accounts, such as: Bankers%27 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

2107-469: The same bank. Each of the outside clerks carried a file box. When the manager signalled, all of the outside clerks stepped one position to the left, to face the next seated clerks. Each clerk outside the table would then hand over the cheques drawn on the bank of the seated clerk who they were now facing, and the inside clerk, in turn, would pay the outside clerk for those cheques in cash. Thus several such transactions could be conducted simultaneously, across

2156-566: The site of the entrance to the city office. In 1924 the bank was involved in a notable court case. In England and those common law jurisdictions whose approach follows that of English law in treating the duty of confidentiality as resting in contract, the classic authority is the Court of Appeal decision in Tournier v National Provincial and Union Bank of England . The duty extends at least to information concerning account transactions and extends beyond

2205-480: Was developed and commercialized in the 1950s, and enabled computers to reliably read routing and account numbers and automated the sorting of paper cheques. Cheque truncation was introduced in various countries, starting in the 1990s, to allow electronic images to be made of physical cheques, for electronic clearance. The legalisation of remote deposit made it possible for businesses and bank customers to deposit cheques without delivering them to their own banks. In

2254-456: Was established in the United States in 1913 to act as a central, well-capitalized clearing house. The objective was to prevent the occasional panics, where banks would refuse to accept cheques drawn on banks whose solvency was uncertain. The Federal Reserve can physically accept and transport cheques. When a bank customer deposits a cheque, which may be drawn on any bank, the bank would credit

2303-459: Was eventually launched in 1833. The National Provincial Bank thus was established as a provincial bank but with a London head office. Moreover, it was specifically structured to be a branch banking enterprise prepared to concentrate on a large number of smaller accounts rather than a small number of large accounts. For more than thirty years the bank operated as a country bank, with its headquarters in London, but not transacting banking business in

2352-401: Was formed in 1839 and it remained a purely metropolitan bank for the rest of the century; it was of no great size during that period, opening around a dozen branches in central London and acquiring the occasional small local bank. Although it refused to open branches in the provinces, it did develop an extensive overseas business. Policy changed at the turn of the century and the Union embarked on

2401-462: Was second only to the London and County Bank. There was now little in the way of acquisition but the branch network continued to increase – according to the NatWest Heritage Hub, there were 200 branches by 1900 and over 450 by the time of the 1918 merger (however, the scale of the post-1900 increase is surprisingly large and the latter figure may include sub-branches). The Union Bank of London

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