How far does the apple fall from the tree? The size of English bank branch networks in the nineteenth century

After the Bank Charter Act in 1833, English banks could branch nationally without legal or geographical restriction. It has been previously thought that despite this freedom, early English joint-stock banks predominantly began as single units. Drawing upon a new data set, this article maps the growt...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Business history 2018-05, Vol.60 (4), p.447-473
Main Authors: Barnes, Victoria, Newton, Lucy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
19th century
Banking
Banks
Branch banking
branches
branching
Corporate growth
Geography
regulation
strategy
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Summary:After the Bank Charter Act in 1833, English banks could branch nationally without legal or geographical restriction. It has been previously thought that despite this freedom, early English joint-stock banks predominantly began as single units. Drawing upon a new data set, this article maps the growth of branch banking, the size of bank networks and their geographical location and spread. It demonstrates that banks pursued branching strategies energetically against the intentions of regulators and were successful in forming large and complex networks. However, ultimately, before 1880 the majority settled for local, district and multi-regional structures, as opposed to national structures.
ISSN:0007-6791
1743-7938
DOI:10.1080/00076791.2017.1323883