Clydesdale Bank

Clydesdale Bank PLC

File:Clydesdale logo.png
Company type	Public
Industry	Finance and Insurance
Founded	1838
Headquarters	Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Key people	Sir Malcolm Williamson Chairman David Thorburn Chief Operating Officer Lynne Peacock CEO
Products	Financial Services
Revenue	£17, 500 million (2007)
Operating income	£194 million (pre annual 2008)
Net income	£139 million (pre annual 2008)
Number of employees	c 4, 035 (2008)
Parent	National Australia Bank Group
Website	Clydesdale Bank site

The Clydesdale Bank PLC (Gaidhlig "Banca Dhail Chluaidh")is a commercial bank in Scotland, a subsidiary of the National Australia Bank (NAB) Group. In Scotland, the Clydesdale Bank is the third largest clearing bank, although it also retains a branch network in London and the north of England. In 2001, the Yorkshire Bank (previously the NABG's subsidiary in England) became a part of the Clydesdale Bank, although it continues to trade under its own name.

The Clydesdale Bank continues to issue its own banknotes for use in Scotland.

History

The headquarters of Clydesdale Bank in St Vincent Place, Glasgow

The Clydesdale Bank was founded in Glasgow in 1838. The Clydesdale later expanded throughout Scotland, and later became the first Scottish bank to open branches in the north of England. In 1919 the Midland Bank acquired the Clydesdale Bank. In 1950 the Midland Bank merged the Clydesdale with the North of Scotland Bank which it acquired in 1926.

The Midland Bank later sold its UK subsidiaries, including the Clydesdale Bank, to NAB in 1987. The bank became part of NAB's UK and Irish subsidiaries including Northern Bank in Northern Ireland; National Irish Bank in Ireland. In 1990 the Yorkshire Bank also became part of the group.

In the 1970s the Clydesdale Bank became a pioneer in the use of automated banking, including the widespread introduction of "AutoBank" ATMs and keypads at branch counters. A new corporate identity (with a new "CB" logo and a mustard-yellow colour scheme) was also introduced.

In 2001, the NAB Group transferred the assets and liabilities of the Yorkshire Bank to the Clydesdale Bank as part of a reorganisation of its British businesses by amalgamating two banking licences into one. The National Australia Group Europe Act 2001 was a private Act of Parliament passed to facilitate the transfer. Yorkshire Bank is now a trading name of the Clydesdale Bank in England.

In 2005 NAB sold Northern Bank and National Irish Bank to the Danish Danske Bank.

In July 2007 Clydesdale Bank became the main sponsor of the Scottish Premier League in a £8m four-year agreement.

Banknotes

See also: Banknotes of the pound sterling § Clydesdale Bank notes

Banknote history

Up until the middle of the nineteenth century, privately owned banks in Great Britain and Ireland were permitted to issue their own banknotes, and money issued by provincial Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish banking companies circulated freely as a means of payment. While the Bank of England eventually gained a monopoly for issuing banknotes in England and Wales, Scottish banks retained the right to issue their own banknotes and continue to do so to this day. The Clydesdale Bank, along with the Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of Scotland, still prints its own banknotes

Current issue

File:ClydesdaleBank20.jpg

A £20 Clydesdale Bank note.

The current series of notes issued by the Clydesdale Bank features a different design for each denomination, each depicting a notable person from Scottish history:

• 5 pound note featuring Robert Burns on the obverse and a vignette of a field mouse from Burns' poem To a Mouse on the reverse
• 10 pound note featuring Mary Slessor on the front and a vignette of a map of Calabar and African missionary scenes on the back
• 20 pound note featuring Robert the Bruce on the front and a vignette of the Bruce on horseback with the Monymusk Reliquary against a background of Stirling Castle on the back
• 50 pound note featuring Adam Smith on the front and a vignette of industry tools against a background of sailing ships on the back
• 100 pound note featuring Lord Kelvin on the front and a vignette of the University of Glasgow on the back

An image of Adam Smith also features on the £20 note issued in 2007 by the Bank of England, granting Smith the unique status of being the only person to feature on banknotes issued by two different British banks, and the first Scot to appear on an English banknote.

New Issue

In early 2009 Clydesdale Bank announced a new series of banknotes would be introduced later in the year. The obverse designs will feature famous Scots while the reverse designs will feature Scotland's UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

2009 Series

Image		Value	Main Colour		Design
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse
File:ClydesdaleBank5obverseSp.png	File:ClydesdaleBank5reverseSp.png	£5		Blue	Sir Alexander Fleming	St Kilda
File:ClydesdaleBank10obverseSp.png	File:ClydesdaleBank10reverseSp.png	£10		Yellow-Brown	Robert Burns	Edinburgh Old and New Towns
File:ClydesdaleBank20obverseSp.png	File:ClydesdaleBank20reverseSp.png	£20		Purple	King Robert the Bruce	New Lanark
File:ClydesdaleBank50obverseSp.png	File:ClydesdaleBank50reverseSp.png	£50		Green	Elsie Inglis	The Antonine Wall
File:ClydesdaleBank100obverseSp.png	File:ClydesdaleBank100reverseSp.png	£100		Red	Charles Rennie Mackintosh	Neolithic Orkney

Previous issues

The Clydesdale Bank ceased issuing £1 notes in the late 1980s. These latterly had an image of Robert the Bruce, whilst the contemporaneous £20 notes had an image of Lord Kelvin.

The £10 notes issued from 1971 bore an image of Scottish explorer David Livingstone with palm tree leaves and an illustration of African tribesmen on the back. A later issue showed Livingstone against a background graphic of a map of Livinstone's Zambezi expedition, showing the River Zambezi, Victoria Falls, Lake Nyasa and Blantyre, Malawi; on the reverse, the African figures were replaced with an image of Livingstone's birthplace in Blantyre.

Notes issued by Scottish banks circulate widely and may be used as a means of payment throughout Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom; although they do not have the status of legal tender they are accepted as promissory notes. It should be noted that no paper money is legal tender in Scotland, even that issued by the Bank of England (which is legal tender in England and Wales).

Commemorative banknotes

Occasionally the Clydesdale Bank issues special commemorative banknotes to mark particular occasions or to celebrate famous people. These notes are much sought-after by collectors and they rarely remain long in circulation. Examples to date have included:

• a £20 to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Edinburgh, October 1997, showing on the reverse the Edinburgh International Conference Centre where the meeting was held, along with Edinburgh Castle in the background and the new Clydesdale Bank building at Tollcross, Edinburgh
• a £20 note to mark Glasgow's celebrations as UK City of Architecture and Design, featuring a portrait of Glaswegian architect Alexander "Greek" Thomson; on the reverse is an illustration of the Lighthouse building by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the dome of Thomson's Holmwood House (1999)
• a £20 to mark the 700th anniversary of Robert the Bruce’s coronation, featuring the Coat of Arms used by the Bruce on the front and a narrative commemorating the anniversary on the rear
• a £10 note to mark the bank's sponsorship of the Scottish Commonwealth Games team, depicting the team logo on the front, and on the rear a montage of all the events at the games (2006)

Commonwealth Games

In March 2005, Clydesdale Bank became one of the official partners of the Scottish Commonwealth Games Team, at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia. This sponsorship builds on the relationship formed by its parent, NAB Group, who are one of the Games' main sponsors as well as a key partner with the Australian team, whilst the sister company, Bank of New Zealand, has joined forces to support its national team.The bank also releasd a series of Ten Pound (£10) notes with a Commonwealth Games related theme for the occasion. The bank is a major sponsor of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

See also

• British banknotes.

External links

• Clydesdale Bank site
• Clydesdale Banknotes