British Multinational Banking, 1830-1990This is a study of the emergence, growth, and performance of British multinational banks from their origins in the 1830s until the present day. British-owned banks played leading roles in the financial systems of much of Asia and the southern hemisphere during the nineteenth century and after. In the 1970s and 1980s they made large investments in California and elsewhere in the United States. They played major roles in the finance of international trade, in international diplomacy, in the birth of the Eurodollar market, and in the world debt crisis. This is the first modern general history of these banks. It is based on a wide range of confidential banking archives in Britain, Australia, and Hong Kong, most of which were previously unavailable. Geoffrey Jones reveals, for the first time, details of the real profits and secret reserves of these banks, and uses these data in a unique analysis of their financial performance over more than a century. Jones places this new empirical evidence in the context of modern theories of multinational enterprise and of competitive advantage. This is a lucidly written and fascinating study, which will be of importance not only to historians, but to anyone concerned with contemporary multinational banking. |
Contents
13 | 118 |
War and Depression | 151 |
Banking Strategies in the Interwar Years | 185 |
The British Government the Bank of England | 223 |
Grand Designs | 261 |
Banking Strategies in the Postwar World | 285 |
The Rise and Fall of Globalization | 350 |
Conclusion | 370 |
Common terms and phrases
acquired ANZ Bank Asia Australia Australian Bank Bank of Australasia Bank of British Bank of England Bank of India Bank of Persia Bank of South bank's bankers banks active Barclays Bank Barclays DCO Bolsa branch network British banks British multinational banks British overseas banks British West Africa Cambridge capital cent Chartered Bank clearing banks commercial banks competitive advantages countries deposits domestic banks East Eastern Bank Eastern Exchange banks economies foreign banks Geoffrey Jones head office History Hong Hongkong and Shanghai Hongkong Bank Imperial Bank inner reserves institutions inter-war international banking investment Ionian Bank Iran Kong Latin America lending Lloyds Bank loans Mercantile Bank merchant banks merger Midland Bank National Bank nineteenth century note issue operations regions River Plate Scottish & Australian Shanghai Banking Corporation shareholding South Africa Standard Bank Standard Chartered Standard Chartered Bank strategies subsidiary trade finance trading banks Union Bank University Press World Zealand