Clydesdale Bank ( ) is a
commercial bank in Scotland
, a
subsidiary of the National
Australia Bank (NAB) Group. In Scotland, Clydesdale
Bank is the third largest clearing
bank, although it also retains a branch network in London
and the
north of England
. In
2001,
Yorkshire Bank (previously the
NABG's subsidiary in England) became a part of Clydesdale Bank,
although it continues to trade under its own name.
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" ATM 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
an £8 million four-year agreement.
Banknotes
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, banks in Scotland and Northern
Ireland retained the right to issue their own banknotes and
continue to do so to this day. In Scotland, Clydesdale Bank, along
with
Royal Bank of Scotland
and
Bank of Scotland, still prints
its own
banknotes.
Current issue
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:
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 a Bank of England 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.
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:
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 released 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
References
-
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2481697.0.Clydesdale_launches_Homecoming_bank_notes.php
External links
and African missionary scenes
on the back
on the back
on the back
where the meeting was held, along with Edinburgh
Castle
in the background and the new Clydesdale Bank
building at Tollcross, Edinburgh
by Charles
Rennie Mackintosh and the dome of Thomson's Holmwood House (1999)
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