The Birmingham Banking Company was a

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

that operated in

Birmingham, West Midlands Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

from 1829 to 1889, and as The Metropolitan and Birmingham Bank from 1889 to 1892, the Metropolitan, Birmingham and South Wales Bank from 1892 to 1893, and the Metropolitan Bank (of England and Wales) from 1893 to 1914, when it was acquired by the

Midland Bank Midland Bank Plc was one of the Big Four banking groups in the United Kingdom for most of the 20th century. It is now part of HSBC. The bank was founded as the Birmingham and Midland Bank in Union Street, Birmingham, England in August 1836. It ...

History

This joint-stock bank was established on 30 September 1829 in Birmingham. It was based upon the business of the Birmingham private bankers Gibbins & Lovell, established in 1825 by Joseph Gibbins and Edward Bourne Lovell, and initially traded from their premises in New Street. The bank built itself a headquarters in Birmingham at the junction of Waterloo Street and

Bennetts Hill Bennetts Hill is a street in the Core area of Birmingham City Centre, United Kingdom. It runs from New Street, uphill to Colmore Row, crossing Waterloo Street in the process. It is within the Colmore Row conservation area. History Bennetts ...

which was constructed in 1830 to the designs of the architects

Thomas Rickman Thomas Rickman (8 June 17764 January 1841) was an English architect and architectural antiquary who was a major figure in the Gothic Revival. He is particularly remembered for his ''Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture'' ...

and

Henry Hutchinson Henry Hutchinson (16 October 1800 – 22 November 1831) was an English architect who partnered with Thomas Rickman in December 1821 to form the Rickman and Hutchinson architecture practice, in which he stayed until his death in 1831. Hutchinson ...

. They moved into this new building in 1831. It was altered in 1868 by

Yeoville Thomason Henry Richard Yeoville Yardley Thomason (17 July 1826 – 19 July 1901) was a British architect active in Birmingham. He was born in Edinburgh to a Birmingham family, and set up his own practice in Birmingham 1853–54. Life Yeoville ...

; and an extension in Bennetts Hill by Harris & Martin was added in 1881–4. The firm grew rapidly and by the mid 1830s it was one of Birmingham's strongest banks. During the

financial crisis of 1866 The Panic of 1866 was an international financial downturn that accompanied the failure of Overend, Gurney and Company in London, and the ''corso forzoso'' abandonment of the silver standard in Italy. In United Kingdom, Britain, the economic imp ...

the bank suffered severe liquidity problems and failed on 14 July 1866 with liabilities of £1.8m () against a capital of £280,000 (). It was the largest bank to fail during the banking crisis of the mid 1860s. It was restructured and reopened in August 1866. It amalgamated with the Royal Exchange Bank (formerly the Metropolitan Bank) in 1889 to form The Metropolitan and Birmingham Bank. This amalgamation enabled the Birmingham company to facilitate its London business as the Royal Exchange Bank had a seat in the clearing house, and until this time the Birmingham bank had paid fees of several thousand pounds a year for cashing their cheques in the London

Bankers' Clearing House Cheque clearing (or check clearing in American English) or bank clearance is the process of moving cash (or its equivalent) from the bank on which a cheque is drawn to the bank in which it was deposited, usually accompanied by the movement of the c ...

. The nominal capital of the bank increased at this time from £3.5m to £5.0m (equivalent to £ million in ). On the acquisition of the South Wales Union in 1892 it was renamed the Metropolitan, Birmingham and South Wales Bank and on the acquisition of the National Bank of Wales in 1893 it changed its name again to the Metropolitan Bank (of England and Wales). The Metropolitan Bank (of England and Wales) was acquired by the

in 1914. The branch on

closed in 2002 and the building was converted for use as a

wine bar A wine bar is a tavern-like business focusing on selling wine, rather than liquor or beer. A typical feature of many wine bars is a wide selection of wines available by the glass. Some wine bars are profiled on wines of a certain type of origin, ...

Acquisitions

*1838 Bank of Birmingham (est 1832) *1844 Dixon, Dalton and Amphlett, Dudley (est 1791) *1848 Charles Forster and Sons, Walsall (est 1793) *1865 Little and Woodcock, Coventry (est 1762) *1880 Stourbridge and Kidderminster Bank *1889 Staffordshire Joint Stock Bank *1889 Royal Exchange Bank *1889 Cooper Purton and Sons, Bridgnorth *1892 South Wales Union Bank *1893 National Bank of Wales *1910 Davis Banks and Company, Kington (est 1789)

References

{{Authority control Defunct banks of the United Kingdom Former banknote issuers of the United Kingdom Banks established in 1829 Banks disestablished in 1914 Defunct companies based in Birmingham, West Midlands Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange History of Birmingham, West Midlands