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“If competition has any virtue, we ought not to have a system that stifles it”: Competition in London Clearing Banking, 1946–1971

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2020

Abstract

Concentration in many industries has increased markedly in recent decades in the United States, although in Europe it has been stable or has even decreased. Where concentration has increased, the question arises as to how to measure the extent of competition (or the degree to which it is contestable) in a market in which there are relatively few competing firms, over the long term. This article explores competition in clearing banking in the UK from 1946 to 1971. This period is of interest in the context of industry concentration because clearing banking was relatively concentrated and, it has long been argued, uncompetitive. The article evaluates competition from four perspectives. First, it considers the competitiveness of London clearing banking from a quantitative perspective. Next, it evaluates competition through the lens of competition policy, particularly the extent to which monopoly, mergers, and restrictive trade practices existed in clearing banking. Third, the conclusions of the National Board for Prices and Incomes’ report into bank charges in 1967 are considered. Finally, it explores the extent to which the clearing banks were open to and embraced change, and were innovative, assuming that these qualities are more likely to be present when there is competition among banks. It questions key aspects of the dominant interpretation of clearing banking as uncompetitive and slow to innovate.

Type
Article
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Business History Conference

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Footnotes

Goodhart, “Competition and Credit Control,” Appendix A. Appendix A reproduces a note from J. S. Fforde to the governors, “Banking System (and Credit Control),” December 24, 1970.

References

Bibliography of Works Cited

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Collins, Michael. Money and Banking in the UK: A History. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2012.Google Scholar
Hanson, D. G. Service Banking: The Arrival of the All-Purpose Bank. 2nd ed. London: The Institute of Bankers, 1982.Google Scholar
Holmes, A. R., and Green, Edwin. Midland: 150 Years of Banking Business. London: BT Batsford Ltd., 1986.Google Scholar
Kay, John. The Truth About Markets: Why Some Nations Are Rich but Most Remain Poor. London: Penguin Group, 2004.Google Scholar
Kynaston, David. City of London: The History. Edited by Milner, David. London: Vintage, 2012.Google Scholar
Middlemas, Keith. Power, Competition and the State. Vol. 1, Britain in Search of Balance, 1940–61. Basingstoke: The Macmillan Press Ltd, 1986.Google Scholar
Mitchell, B. R. British Historical Statistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.Google Scholar
Orsingher, Roger. Banks of the World. Translated by Ault, D. S.. London: Macmillan, 1967,. Philippon Thomas. The Great Reversal: How America Gave Up on Free Markets. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2019.Google Scholar
Sheppard, David K. The Growth and Role of UK Financial Institutions 1880–1962. London: Methuen & Co Ltd., 1971.Google Scholar
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Wilks, Stephen. In the Public Interest: Competition Policy and the Monopolies and Mergers Commission. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Winton, J. R. Lloyds Bank, 1918–1969. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982.Google Scholar
Amaral, Luciano. “Measuring Competition in Portuguese Commercial Banking During the Golden Age (1960–1973).” Business History 57, no. 8 (2015): 11921218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anginer, Deniz, Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli, and Zhu, Min. “How Does Competition Affect Bank Systemic Risk?Journal of Financial Intermediation 23, no. 1 (2014): 126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arch, Linda. “London Clearing Banking 1946–79: Stability and Compliance and Its Regulatory, Competition and Institutional Underpinnings.” PhD thesis, Henley Business School, University of Reading, 2017.Google Scholar
Averitt, Neil W., and Lande, Robert H.. “Consumer Sovereignty: A Unified Theory of Antitrust and Consumer Protection Law.” Antitrust Law Journal 65 (1997): 713756.Google Scholar
Baer, Herbert, and Mote, Larry R.. “The Effects of Nationwide Banking on Concentration: Evidence from Abroad.” In A Review from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, special issue, Economic Perspectives 9, no. 1 (January/February 1985): 317. Accessed February 20, 2020. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files//docs/historical/frbchi/economicperspectives/frbchi_econper_198501.pdf Google Scholar
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Bátiz-Lazo, Bernardo. “Emergence and Evolution of ATM Networks in the UK, 1967–2000.” Business History 51, no. 1 (2009): 127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bátiz-Lazo, Bernardo, and Wardley, Peter. “Banking on Change: Information Systems and Technologies in UK High Street Banking, 1919–1969.” Financial History Review 14, no. 2 (2007): 177205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Battilossi, Stefano. “Banking with Multinationals: British Clearing Banks and the Euromarkets’ Challenge, 1958–1976.” In European Banks and the American Challenge: Competition and Cooperation in International Banking under Bretton Woods, edited by Battilossi, Stefano and Cassis, Youssef, 103134. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.Google Scholar
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Beck, Thorsten, Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli, and Levine, Ross. “Bank Concentration, Competition, and Crises: First Results.” Journal of Banking & Finance 30 (2006): 1581-1603.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berger, Allen N., Klapper, Leora F., and Turk-Ariss, Rima. “Bank Competition and Financial Stability.” Journal of Financial Services Research 35, no. 2 (2009): 99118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyd, John H., De Nicolò, Gianni, and Jalal, Abu M.. “Bank Risk-Taking and Competition Revisited: New Theory and New Evidence, WP/06/297.” IMF Working Papers, December 2006, 149.Google Scholar
Capie, Forrest, and Billings, Mark. “Profitability in English Banking in the Twentieth Century.” European Review of Economic History 5, no. 3 (2001): 367401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Capie, Forrest, and Billings, Mark. “Evidence on Competition in English Commercial Banking, 1920–1970.” Financial History Review 11, no. 1 (April 2004): 69103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Claessens, Stijn, and Laeven, Luc. “What Drives Bank Competitcce.” Journal of Money, Credit and Banking 36, no. 3, part 2 (2004): 563583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, Glyn, and Evans, J. Wynne. “Profitability and Employment in United Kingdom Financial Services 1971–1981.” Services Industries Journal 3, no. 3 (1983): 241259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Jonghe, Olivier, Diepstraten, Maaike, and Schepens, Glenn. “Competition in EU Banking.” In The Palgrave Handbook of European Banking, edited by Beck, Thorsten and Casu, Barbara, 187212. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de-Ramon, Sebastian J. A., and Straughan, Michael. “Measuring Competition in the UK Deposit-Taking Sector, Staff Working Paper No. 631.” Staff Working Papers, Bank of England, December 2016, 142.Google Scholar
Garnett, Philip, Mollan, Simon, and Bentley, R. Alexander. “Complexity in History: Modelling the Organisational Demography of the British Banking Sector.” Business History 57, no. 1 (2015): 182202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodhart, C. A. E.Competition and Credit Control.” Special Paper 229, LSE Financial Markets Group Special Paper Series, March 2014, 134.Google Scholar
Grullon, Gustavo, Larkin, Yelena, and Michaely, Roni. “Are US Industries Becoming More Concentrated?Review of Finance 23, no. 4 (2019): 697743.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, Bronwyn H., Helmers, Christian, Rogers, Mark, and Sena, Vania. “The Importance (or Not) of Patents to UK Firms.” Oxford Economics Papers 65, no. 3 (2013): 603629.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Simon, and Kwak, James. “Is Financial Innovation Good for the Economy?” In Innovation Policy and the Economy, edited by Lerner, Josh and Stern, Scott, 12: 116. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012.Google Scholar
Jones, Aubrey. “The Public Forum on Prices.” Management Decision 2, no. 3 (Autumn 1968): 152155.Google Scholar
Liu, Hong, Molyneux, Phil, and Wilson, John O. S.. “Competition in Banking: Measurement and Interpretation.” In Handbook of Research Methods and Applications in Empirical Finance, edited by Bell, Adrian R., Brooks, Chris, and Prokopczuk, Marcel, 197215. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michie, Ranald C.Control and Compartmentalization, 1945–1970.” In British Banking: Continuity and Change from 1694 to the Present, 162193. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minniti, Maria. “The Foundational Contribution to Entrepreneurship Research of William J. Baumol.” Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal 10, no. 2 (2016): 214228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Offer, Avner. “The Market Turn: From Social Democracy to Market Liberalism.” Economic History Review 70, no. 4 (2017): 10511071.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Philippon, Thomas. “Has the US Finance Industry Become Less Efficient? On the Theory and Measurement of Financial Intermediation.” The American Economic Review 105, no. 4 (2015): 14081438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porter, Michael E.The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy.” Harvard Business Review 86, no. 1 (January 2008): 7893.Google ScholarPubMed
Reveley, James, and Singleton, John. “Clearing the Cupboard: The Role of Public Relations in London Clearing Banks’ Collective Legitimacy-Seeking, 1950–1980.” Enterprise & Society 15, no. 3 (2014): 472498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ross, Duncan McDougall. “The Clearing Banks and the Finance of British Industry, 1930–1959.” PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science, 1989. Accessed September 6, 2018. British Library Ethos e-theses online service.Google Scholar
Sayers, R. S.Responsibility for the British Banking Structure. A. Policy on Bank Amalgamations.” In The Bank of England 1891–1944, 1: 235252. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976.Google Scholar
Scott, Peter, and Newton, Lucy. “Jealous Monopolists? British Banks and Responses to the Macmillan Gap During the 1930s.” Enterprise & Society 8, no. 4 (2007): 881919.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silber, William L.The Process of Financial Innovation.” American Economic Review 73, no. 2 (1983): 8995.Google Scholar
Watson, Katherine. “The Financial Services Sector since 1945.” In The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain. Vol. 3, Structural Change and Growth, 1939–2000, edited by Floud, Roderick and Johnson, Paul, 167188. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, March 2008.Google Scholar
The Economist Google Scholar
Financial Times Google Scholar
Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin Google Scholar
Annual Abstract of Statistics No. 112. London: HMSO, 1975.Google Scholar
Bank of England Statistical Abstract 1992. Google Scholar
Bank of England Statistical Abstract Number 1. 1970. Accessed October 10, 2018. https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/archive/statistical-abstract/number-1-1970.pdf.Google Scholar
Bank of England Statistical Abstract Number 2. 1975. Accessed October 10, 2018. https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/archive/statistical-abstract/number-2-1975.pdf.Google Scholar
Committee on the Working of the Monetary System. Report. Cmnd. 827. August 1959.Google Scholar
Committee to Review National Savings. Report. Cmnd. 5273. April 1973.Google Scholar
Competition and Credit Control. Bank of England, May 1971.Google Scholar
Industrial Reorganisation Corporation. Cmnd. 2889. January 1966.Google Scholar
The Monopolies Commission. Barclays Bank Ltd., Lloyds Bank Ltd. and Martins Bank Ltd.: A Report on the Proposed Merger. July 15, 1968. Google Scholar
National Board for Prices and Incomes, Report No. 34. Bank Charges. Cmnd. 3292. May 1967. Google Scholar
A Review of Monopolies and Mergers Policy: A Consultative Document. Cmnd. 7198. May 1978.Google Scholar
Monopolies & Mergers Acts 1948 and 1965: Annual Report by the Board of Trade for the Year ended 31 December 1968, February 26, 1969. Accessed 1 June 2020, https://parlipapers.proquest.com/parlipapers/.Google Scholar
National Board for Prices and Incomes, Report No. 6, Salaries of Midland Bank Staff, Cmnd. 2839, November 1965. Accessed 1 June 2020, https://parlipapers.proquest.com/parlipapers/.Google Scholar
Annual Abstract of Statistics No. 93. London: HMSO, 1956. Annual Abstract of Statistics No. 109. London: HMSO, 1972.Google Scholar
Bank of England Archive, London (BoE)Google Scholar
Lloyds Banking Group Archive, LondonGoogle Scholar
London Metropolitan Archives, London (LMA)Google Scholar
“Fair Trading Act 1973.” Accessed 1 June 2020, http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1973/41/section/7/enacted.Google Scholar
“GDP Deflators at Market Prices, and Money GDP.” Accessed 4 June 2020, https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/gdp-deflators-at-market-prices-and-money-gdp.Google Scholar
Ackrill, Margaret, and Hannah, Leslie. Barclays: The Business of Banking 1690–1996. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.Google Scholar
Arch, Linda. The Regulation of the London Clearing Banks, 19461971: Stability and Compliance. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Capie, Forrest. The Bank of England: 1950s to 1979. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.Google Scholar
Casu, Barbara, Girardone, Claudia, and Molyneux, Philip. Introduction to Banking. 2nd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, 2015.Google Scholar
Collins, Michael. Money and Banking in the UK: A History. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2012.Google Scholar
Hanson, D. G. Service Banking: The Arrival of the All-Purpose Bank. 2nd ed. London: The Institute of Bankers, 1982.Google Scholar
Holmes, A. R., and Green, Edwin. Midland: 150 Years of Banking Business. London: BT Batsford Ltd., 1986.Google Scholar
Kay, John. The Truth About Markets: Why Some Nations Are Rich but Most Remain Poor. London: Penguin Group, 2004.Google Scholar
Kynaston, David. City of London: The History. Edited by Milner, David. London: Vintage, 2012.Google Scholar
Middlemas, Keith. Power, Competition and the State. Vol. 1, Britain in Search of Balance, 1940–61. Basingstoke: The Macmillan Press Ltd, 1986.Google Scholar
Mitchell, B. R. British Historical Statistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.Google Scholar
Orsingher, Roger. Banks of the World. Translated by Ault, D. S.. London: Macmillan, 1967,. Philippon Thomas. The Great Reversal: How America Gave Up on Free Markets. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2019.Google Scholar
Sheppard, David K. The Growth and Role of UK Financial Institutions 1880–1962. London: Methuen & Co Ltd., 1971.Google Scholar
Jones, Stedman, Daniel, . Masters of the Universe: Hayek, Friedman, and the Birth of Neoliberal Politics. Woodstock, UK: Princeton University Press, 2012.Google Scholar
Vogel, Steven K. Freer Markets, More Rules: Regulatory Reform in Advanced Industrial Countries. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilks, Stephen. In the Public Interest: Competition Policy and the Monopolies and Mergers Commission. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Winton, J. R. Lloyds Bank, 1918–1969. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982.Google Scholar
Amaral, Luciano. “Measuring Competition in Portuguese Commercial Banking During the Golden Age (1960–1973).” Business History 57, no. 8 (2015): 11921218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anginer, Deniz, Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli, and Zhu, Min. “How Does Competition Affect Bank Systemic Risk?Journal of Financial Intermediation 23, no. 1 (2014): 126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arch, Linda. “London Clearing Banking 1946–79: Stability and Compliance and Its Regulatory, Competition and Institutional Underpinnings.” PhD thesis, Henley Business School, University of Reading, 2017.Google Scholar
Averitt, Neil W., and Lande, Robert H.. “Consumer Sovereignty: A Unified Theory of Antitrust and Consumer Protection Law.” Antitrust Law Journal 65 (1997): 713756.Google Scholar
Baer, Herbert, and Mote, Larry R.. “The Effects of Nationwide Banking on Concentration: Evidence from Abroad.” In A Review from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, special issue, Economic Perspectives 9, no. 1 (January/February 1985): 317. Accessed February 20, 2020. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files//docs/historical/frbchi/economicperspectives/frbchi_econper_198501.pdf Google Scholar
Baker, Mae, and Collins, Michael. “English Commercial Banks and Organizational Inertia: The Financing of SMEs, 1944–1960.” Enterprise & Society 11, no. 1 (March 2010): 6597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bátiz-Lazo, Bernardo. “Emergence and Evolution of ATM Networks in the UK, 1967–2000.” Business History 51, no. 1 (2009): 127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bátiz-Lazo, Bernardo, and Wardley, Peter. “Banking on Change: Information Systems and Technologies in UK High Street Banking, 1919–1969.” Financial History Review 14, no. 2 (2007): 177205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Battilossi, Stefano. “Banking with Multinationals: British Clearing Banks and the Euromarkets’ Challenge, 1958–1976.” In European Banks and the American Challenge: Competition and Cooperation in International Banking under Bretton Woods, edited by Battilossi, Stefano and Cassis, Youssef, 103134. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.Google Scholar
Beck, Thorsten, Chen, Tao, Lin, Chen, and Song, Frank M.. “Financial Innovation: The Bright and the Dark Sides.” Journal of Banking & Finance 72 (2016): 2851.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, Thorsten, Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli, and Levine, Ross. “Bank Concentration, Competition, and Crises: First Results.” Journal of Banking & Finance 30 (2006): 1581-1603.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berger, Allen N., Klapper, Leora F., and Turk-Ariss, Rima. “Bank Competition and Financial Stability.” Journal of Financial Services Research 35, no. 2 (2009): 99118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyd, John H., De Nicolò, Gianni, and Jalal, Abu M.. “Bank Risk-Taking and Competition Revisited: New Theory and New Evidence, WP/06/297.” IMF Working Papers, December 2006, 149.Google Scholar
Capie, Forrest, and Billings, Mark. “Profitability in English Banking in the Twentieth Century.” European Review of Economic History 5, no. 3 (2001): 367401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Capie, Forrest, and Billings, Mark. “Evidence on Competition in English Commercial Banking, 1920–1970.” Financial History Review 11, no. 1 (April 2004): 69103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Claessens, Stijn, and Laeven, Luc. “What Drives Bank Competitcce.” Journal of Money, Credit and Banking 36, no. 3, part 2 (2004): 563583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, Glyn, and Evans, J. Wynne. “Profitability and Employment in United Kingdom Financial Services 1971–1981.” Services Industries Journal 3, no. 3 (1983): 241259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Jonghe, Olivier, Diepstraten, Maaike, and Schepens, Glenn. “Competition in EU Banking.” In The Palgrave Handbook of European Banking, edited by Beck, Thorsten and Casu, Barbara, 187212. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de-Ramon, Sebastian J. A., and Straughan, Michael. “Measuring Competition in the UK Deposit-Taking Sector, Staff Working Paper No. 631.” Staff Working Papers, Bank of England, December 2016, 142.Google Scholar
Garnett, Philip, Mollan, Simon, and Bentley, R. Alexander. “Complexity in History: Modelling the Organisational Demography of the British Banking Sector.” Business History 57, no. 1 (2015): 182202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodhart, C. A. E.Competition and Credit Control.” Special Paper 229, LSE Financial Markets Group Special Paper Series, March 2014, 134.Google Scholar
Grullon, Gustavo, Larkin, Yelena, and Michaely, Roni. “Are US Industries Becoming More Concentrated?Review of Finance 23, no. 4 (2019): 697743.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, Bronwyn H., Helmers, Christian, Rogers, Mark, and Sena, Vania. “The Importance (or Not) of Patents to UK Firms.” Oxford Economics Papers 65, no. 3 (2013): 603629.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Simon, and Kwak, James. “Is Financial Innovation Good for the Economy?” In Innovation Policy and the Economy, edited by Lerner, Josh and Stern, Scott, 12: 116. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012.Google Scholar
Jones, Aubrey. “The Public Forum on Prices.” Management Decision 2, no. 3 (Autumn 1968): 152155.Google Scholar
Liu, Hong, Molyneux, Phil, and Wilson, John O. S.. “Competition in Banking: Measurement and Interpretation.” In Handbook of Research Methods and Applications in Empirical Finance, edited by Bell, Adrian R., Brooks, Chris, and Prokopczuk, Marcel, 197215. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michie, Ranald C.Control and Compartmentalization, 1945–1970.” In British Banking: Continuity and Change from 1694 to the Present, 162193. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minniti, Maria. “The Foundational Contribution to Entrepreneurship Research of William J. Baumol.” Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal 10, no. 2 (2016): 214228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Offer, Avner. “The Market Turn: From Social Democracy to Market Liberalism.” Economic History Review 70, no. 4 (2017): 10511071.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Philippon, Thomas. “Has the US Finance Industry Become Less Efficient? On the Theory and Measurement of Financial Intermediation.” The American Economic Review 105, no. 4 (2015): 14081438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porter, Michael E.The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy.” Harvard Business Review 86, no. 1 (January 2008): 7893.Google ScholarPubMed
Reveley, James, and Singleton, John. “Clearing the Cupboard: The Role of Public Relations in London Clearing Banks’ Collective Legitimacy-Seeking, 1950–1980.” Enterprise & Society 15, no. 3 (2014): 472498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ross, Duncan McDougall. “The Clearing Banks and the Finance of British Industry, 1930–1959.” PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science, 1989. Accessed September 6, 2018. British Library Ethos e-theses online service.Google Scholar
Sayers, R. S.Responsibility for the British Banking Structure. A. Policy on Bank Amalgamations.” In The Bank of England 1891–1944, 1: 235252. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976.Google Scholar
Scott, Peter, and Newton, Lucy. “Jealous Monopolists? British Banks and Responses to the Macmillan Gap During the 1930s.” Enterprise & Society 8, no. 4 (2007): 881919.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silber, William L.The Process of Financial Innovation.” American Economic Review 73, no. 2 (1983): 8995.Google Scholar
Watson, Katherine. “The Financial Services Sector since 1945.” In The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain. Vol. 3, Structural Change and Growth, 1939–2000, edited by Floud, Roderick and Johnson, Paul, 167188. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, March 2008.Google Scholar
The Economist Google Scholar
Financial Times Google Scholar
Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin Google Scholar
Annual Abstract of Statistics No. 112. London: HMSO, 1975.Google Scholar
Bank of England Statistical Abstract 1992. Google Scholar
Bank of England Statistical Abstract Number 1. 1970. Accessed October 10, 2018. https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/archive/statistical-abstract/number-1-1970.pdf.Google Scholar
Bank of England Statistical Abstract Number 2. 1975. Accessed October 10, 2018. https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/archive/statistical-abstract/number-2-1975.pdf.Google Scholar
Committee on the Working of the Monetary System. Report. Cmnd. 827. August 1959.Google Scholar
Committee to Review National Savings. Report. Cmnd. 5273. April 1973.Google Scholar
Competition and Credit Control. Bank of England, May 1971.Google Scholar
Industrial Reorganisation Corporation. Cmnd. 2889. January 1966.Google Scholar
The Monopolies Commission. Barclays Bank Ltd., Lloyds Bank Ltd. and Martins Bank Ltd.: A Report on the Proposed Merger. July 15, 1968. Google Scholar
National Board for Prices and Incomes, Report No. 34. Bank Charges. Cmnd. 3292. May 1967. Google Scholar
A Review of Monopolies and Mergers Policy: A Consultative Document. Cmnd. 7198. May 1978.Google Scholar
Monopolies & Mergers Acts 1948 and 1965: Annual Report by the Board of Trade for the Year ended 31 December 1968, February 26, 1969. Accessed 1 June 2020, https://parlipapers.proquest.com/parlipapers/.Google Scholar
National Board for Prices and Incomes, Report No. 6, Salaries of Midland Bank Staff, Cmnd. 2839, November 1965. Accessed 1 June 2020, https://parlipapers.proquest.com/parlipapers/.Google Scholar
Annual Abstract of Statistics No. 93. London: HMSO, 1956. Annual Abstract of Statistics No. 109. London: HMSO, 1972.Google Scholar
Bank of England Archive, London (BoE)Google Scholar
Lloyds Banking Group Archive, LondonGoogle Scholar
London Metropolitan Archives, London (LMA)Google Scholar
“Fair Trading Act 1973.” Accessed 1 June 2020, http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1973/41/section/7/enacted.Google Scholar
“GDP Deflators at Market Prices, and Money GDP.” Accessed 4 June 2020, https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/gdp-deflators-at-market-prices-and-money-gdp.Google Scholar