There
are more than 60 banking institutions in the City of Manchester,
(including some 40 from overseas), bearing witness to the boast
that Manchester transacts more international finance than any
other region in the country. For example, the Bank of England
maintains its largest regional office in Manchester and the Co-operative
Bank and Davenham's merchant bank have headquarters in the city.
There are over 15,000 people employed in some form of banking
in the city of Manchester. Of these, the Co-operative Bank is
commonly regarded as the most "modern" of banks in the United
Kingdom and it commands respect throughout the world. It virtually
dominates local authority financing in Britain, particularly in
handling accounts for secondary and higher education.
The Co-op is regarded as a most ethical bank, and has set a standard
which the other banks are beginning to emulate.
All the major clearing banks are represented in Manchester, of
which Barclays, HSBC, NatWest and the Royal Bank of Scotland are
most well known. ABN-AMRO and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank
are Manchester's two biggest overseas banks, covering the whole
of Northern England and Scotland from their Manchester offices,
the former focusing on larger companies, the latter on traders
and import-exporters.
One of the two Japanese banks in the city, Fuji Bank, specialises
in financial services, and there are half a dozen merchant banks
in the city with clients nationwide.
Rothschild's, before moving to London, began life in Manchester.
The banks arrange a wide range of services from privatisation
and floatation to commercial banking and international treasury
consultancy.
Quite apart from the bigger national banks, private banks are
continually increasing in number in Manchester. In 1993 Coutts,
the Royal bankers, set up in the city and the Midland Private
Bank recently announced plans to begin operations in the North
West.
Acknowledgement:
* Some of the information on this page was sourcesd at Wikipedia
(www.wikipedia.com).
