List of banks in the United Kingdom

This article is about banks operating in the United Kingdom. For the development of the banking industry, see Banking in the United Kingdom.

Independent British retail banks

The table shows the main independent British retail banks, in order of market capitalization. The list is quite short as British 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 list shrank further during 2008: Northern Rock was nationalized by the UK Government, followed by Bradford & Bingley; Alliance & Leicester was acquired by Santander, who own Abbey; Lloyds TSB plc announced, on 18 September 2008, a confirmed agreement to take over HBOS plc.

Bank	Headquarters	Market value (£bn) As of 24 February 2011	Assets (£bn) As of 31 December 2008
HSBC	Canary Wharf	122.4	1,736
Royal Bank of Scotland Group†	Edinburgh	49.9	2,508
Lloyds Banking Group††	City of London	44.3	1,195
Barclays	Canary Wharf	38.3	2,320
Standard Chartered	City of London	37.1	299

Note: Market capitalisation listed as of 24 February 2011. Assets listed as of 31 December 2008,

• † The UK Government owns a controlling stake of 84% of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS)'s ordinary shares, however the bank itself remains nominally independent of Government
• †† The UK Government owns a minority stake of 43% of the Lloyds Banking Group, with the bank remaining in the private sector.

The retail and commercial banking markets are dominated by Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Spanish-owned Santander (most of these companies operate more than one banking brand in the UK). The fifth major UK-based bank, Standard Chartered, operates primarily in Asia and Africa.

There are a number of banking businesses owned by retail groups, such as:

• Co-operative Bank owned by The Co-operative Group.
• Harrods Bank owned by Harrods, a department store in London.
• Sainsbury's Bank: 50% owned by British supermarket company Sainsbury's and 50% owned by Lloyds Banking Group.
• Tesco Bank: owned by British supermarket company Tesco.

There are a small number of independent specialist or local banks. A full list is maintained by the FSA http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/list_banks/2011/aug11.pdf

Many of these are just a small fraction of the size of the smallest of the banks in the table above. These include: Airdrie Savings Bank, Aldermore, Arbuthnot Latham, C. Hoare & Co, CAF Bank (a bank for charities provided by Charities Aid Foundation), Charity Bank (a bank which is also a charity and supports other charities), Close Brothers Group, Duncan Lawrie Bank, Julian Hodge Bank, N M Rothschild & Sons, Raphaels Bank, Secure Trust Bank, Unity Trust Bank (a bank supporting social enterprise). There is also a government-run savings bank called National Savings and Investments.

The other main class of consumer financial service organisation in the United Kingdom is the building society, but the building society sector is much smaller than it used to be as many major building societies demutualised in the 1980s and 1990s and there has also been ongoing consolidation via mergers between societies. Halifax (now part of Lloyds Banking Group)and Abbey (now owned by Santander) were the two largest building societies. The remaining building societies which demutualised have all subsequently lost their independence, either through nationalisation or acquisition by other banks. See Building society for a list of the remaining building societies. Out of the remaining building societies, only Nationwide would be large enough to appear in the above table if it were a bank.

Other British retail banking brands owned by British companies

• Bank of Scotland: owned by Lloyds Banking Group.
• Birmingham Midshires: owned by Lloyds Banking Group.
• Cheltenham & Gloucester: owned by Lloyds Banking Group.
• Church House Trust: acquired by Virgin Money in January 2010.
• Coutts & Co: a subsidiary of NatWest, owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group.
• Duncan Lawrie: owned by Camellia plc.
• First Direct: telephone and internet banking brand owned by HSBC.
• Halifax: owned by Lloyds Banking Group.
• Intelligent Finance: telephone and internet banking brand owned by Lloyds Banking Group.
• Lloyds TSB: owned by Lloyds Banking Group.
• NatWest: owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group.
• Reliance Bank: owned by The Salvation Army.
• Royal Bank of Scotland: owned by Royal Bank of Scotland Group.
• Smile: telephone and internet banking brand owned by The Co-operative Bank.
• Ulster Bank: owned by Royal Bank of Scotland Group.
• The Woolwich: owned by Barclays.

The banks run by the Government are;

National Savings And Investments (NS&I) Northern Rock
Bradford and Bingley

UK retail banking brands owned by foreign banks

• Allied Irish Bank (GB): owned by AIB Group of the Republic of Ireland.
• Bank of Baroda (UK): owned by Bank of Baroda of India. Branches in London, Birmingham, Leicester and Manchester.
• Bank of China (UK): owned by Bank of China. Branches in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow.
• Bank of Cyprus UK: owned by Bank of Cyprus.
• Bank of Ireland: based in the Republic of Ireland. One of the leading banks in Northern Ireland, and present in Great Britain to a lesser extent.
• Clydesdale Bank: owned by National Australia Bank.
• Egg Banking plc: owned by Citigroup.
• ICBC (London): owned by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
• ICICI Bank : owned by ICICI Bank of India.
• Northern Bank: owned by Danske Bank of Denmark.
• Punjab National Bank: owned by Punjab National Bank of India. Branches in London, Birmingham, Leicester and Wolverhampton.
• Santander (formerly Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley): owned by Banco Santander of Spain.
• State Bank of India (UK): owned by State Bank of India. Branches in London, Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester, Manchester and Wolverhampton.
• The Bank of East Asia, UK Branch. Branches in London and Birmingham.
• Yorkshire Bank: owned by National Australia Bank.

See also

• 2008 United Kingdom bank rescue package
• 2009 United Kingdom bank rescue package
• Banking in the United Kingdom
• Building society

External links

• Consequences of Abbey's potential of Alliance and Leicester
• BBA - British Bankers' Association - BBA Member Banks
• List of banks in the UK