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, Midland, 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.
