Hill Samuel is a wholly owned subsidiary of

Lloyds Banking Group Lloyds Banking Group is a British financial institution formed through the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2009. It is one of the UK's largest financial services organisations, with 30 million customers and 65,000 employees. Lloyds Bank ...

's Offshore Private Banking unit. It was formerly a leading British

merchant bank A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in commodi ...

and

financial services Financial services are the economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, accountancy companie ...

firm before the

takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to ...

by TSB Group Plc. in 1987, which itself merged with

Lloyds Bank Lloyds Bank plc is a British retail banking, retail and commercial bank with branches across England and Wales. It has traditionally been considered one of the "Big Four (banking), Big Four" clearing house (finance), clearing banks. Lloyds B ...

to become Lloyds TSB in 1995.

History

In 1832, Marcus Samuel founded the company ''M. Samuel & Co.'' near the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sepa ...

to import goods from the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The te ...

. It started with seashells, later extending its trading business to

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly '' Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and ''Porteresia'', both wild and domestica ...

and general produce on a grand scale. By the middle of the 19th century the company expanded further into the re-exporting business, importing goods worldwide and re-exporting them to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

and North America. Recognising the opportunities offered by the emerging rise of the oil industry, in the 1880s Marcus shipped case oil from

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

n oil fields to Japan such that by 1888 that he was able to commission his own ships for bulk oil transportation. His first ship, the 'Murex', was the first tanker to pass through the Suez Canal in 1892 and this division of the company exists today as the Royal Dutch Shell Company; originally named the Shell Transport and Trading Company after the popular imports of

sea shells A seashell or sea shell, also known simply as a shell, is a hard, protective outer layer usually created by an animal or organism that lives in the sea. The shell is part of the body of the animal. Empty seashells are often found washe ...

of the time. Hill Samuel & Co. Limited was created in 1965 by the

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

of M. Samuel & Co. and Philip Hill, Higginson, Erlanger's Limited (the founders of which included

Frédéric Émile d'Erlanger Frédéric Émile, Baron d'Erlanger (June 19, 1832 in Frankfurt am Main – May 22, 1911 in Versailles), born as Friedrich Emil Erlanger, was a German-French banker and Consul. He founded the French branch of the Erlanger banking businesses, Em ...

). On the 10 December 1969, Hill Samuel Australia Limited opened its doors in Sydney with a staff of three executives. Offering a range of financial services and products with the expertise and fame of its parent company, Hill Samuel Australia began to win significant mandates. Following a proposal to the Australian Federal Government in 1985, Macquarie Bank Limited was established in February of that year as part of the restructure of Hill Samuel Australia as an independent trading bank. These small steps have led Macquarie Bank to be one of the most successful diversified provider of financial products originating in Australia. The bank decided to enter the UK securities market buying Wood MacKenzie, a stockbroker, in June 1984. Before the merger with TSB Group Plc., Hill Samuel's 1987 Pre-tax profits were primarily of consisted of merchant banking (50%); as well as investment management services (27%); employee benefit services (13%); and

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

(6%). In 1987, Hill Samuel had suspended trading in its shares on the London Stock Exchange amid signs that it would accept a

bid from the

Union Bank of Switzerland Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) was a Swiss investment bank and financial services company located in Switzerland. The bank, which at the time was the second largest bank in Switzerland, merged with Swiss Bank Corporation in 1998, to become UBS ...

, as the two groups began takeover talks in July. However, by October of that year a final successful

bid was made by the TSB Group Plc., one of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

's largest retail banks at the time. By 1995, the

of TSB Group and

led Hill Samuel to become a subsidiary of Lloyds TSB, now restructured and renamed as

References

{{Authority control Defunct financial services companies of the United Kingdom Former investment banks Offshore finance Banks of the United Kingdom Banks established in 1832 Banks disestablished in 1995

History

See also

References