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72-758: The Abbey National Building Society was formed in 1944 by the merger of the Abbey Road and the National building societies. It was the first building society in the United Kingdom to demutualise , doing so in July 1989. The bank expanded through a number of acquisitions in the 1990s, including James Hay , Scottish Mutual, Scottish Provident and the rail leasing company Porterbrook . Abbey National launched an online bank, Cahoot , in June 2000. In September 2003,

144-556: A mutual holding company (MHC) . In any type of demutualization, insurance policies, outstanding loans, etc., are not directly affected by the organization's change of legal form. Mutual holding companies are not allowed in New York where attempts by mutual insurance to pass permissible legislation failed. Opponents of mutual insurance holding companies referred to the establishment of mutual holding companies in New York as "Legalized Theft". Some MHC demutualizations have been planned as

216-471: A comfort after the events of 1878. In that year the City of Glasgow Bank collapsed creating widespread financial uncertainty. In the event, funds flowed into the National in excess of its ability to find borrowers and it decided to deploy surplus funds in the north of England. Losses were incurred and the National confined its operations to within 100 miles of London. Elkington described the 30 years from 1890 as

288-700: A consortium of Deutsche Bank, Lloyds TSB and Antin Infrastructure Partners . The Santander Group announced in May 2009 that Abbey and the Bradford & Bingley branch network would be renamed under the Santander brand on 11 January 2010. Credit cards issued by Abbey were the first to change to Santander. The Abbey name was retained for the Abbey for Intermediaries mortgage division and was retained for

360-641: A cost-cutting exercise. Those jobs moved to Bangalore and Pune in India in 2003. Following the takeover by the Santander Group, the Gateshead operations also closed in March 2005. Investments were previously branded as Inscape, but were renamed Premium Investments in the end of 2008, provided by Santander Portfolio Management. This was subsequently subsumed into the more general telephony operations and

432-687: A decline in customer service to the extent that customers', management's and shareholders' interests diverge. A very early example of demutualization were the changes to the structure of the Union Insurance Society of Canton initiated by its secretary N.J. Ede between 1873 and 1882 leading to its re-registration as a limited company having originated as a mutual assurance society for traders in Canton in 1835. There are three general methods in which an organization might demutualize, full demutualization , sponsored demutualization , and into

504-702: A full member of the Bankers' Automated Clearing Services (BACS) and became member of the BACS and CHAPS clearing systems. The stage was set for Abbey to end its mutual status and become a public company. In 1987, as a result of financial deregulation enshrined in the Building Societies Act 1986 and Financial Services Act 1986 which allowed financial institutions to own estate agencies, Abbey National launched its own estate agency chain; Cornerstone, purchasing many smaller chains and individual offices with

576-422: A long-time Abbey employee, resigned and his post was filled by an outsider, Luqman Arnold. Arnold spearheaded a major reorganisation of the bank. The First National business was sold, with the car hire business sold to Lloyds TSB for £46 million, with the remaining business sold to General Electric for £848 million. In September 2003 the brand name was shortened to Abbey, the abbey.com domain name launched and

648-465: A mutual organization, therefore, the legal roles of customer and owner are united in one form ("members"), whereas in the joint stock company the roles are distinct. This allows a broader capital base if the customers cannot or will not provide sufficient financing to the organization. However, a joint stock company must also try to maximize the return for its owners instead of only maximizing the return and customer services to its customers. This can lead to

720-626: A period of consolidation with the Society always in the top dozen nationally. However, in the period after WW1 there was exceptional growth both for the industry and the National in particular. Over a 15-year period the advances of the Building Societies Association rose eight-fold whereas those of the National rose by a factor of twenty. The Abbey was founded in 1874 by members of the Free Church in Abbey Road and of

792-464: A service in which IFAs can keep the clients' ISAs , PEPs , offshore bonds, and SIPP in one place. Abbey Wrap Managers was FSA approved in August 2003. This was relaunched as James Hay Wrap in June 2005. In February 1995, Abbey National Baring Derivatives were taken down along with Barings Bank , due to failures in regulation and control, especially in regards to Nick Leeson of Barings Bank. In

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864-486: A similar process of demutualization and was publicly traded. SIX Group , a global financial service provider based in Switzerland, represents an extra ordinary form of a mutualised organisation. The owners are limited to an exclusive group of service consumers, in particular Swiss and foreign banks. This entails a closer relationship with the customer, since a customer might influence the customer-oriented behavior by

936-457: A time for Abbey International before the latter was subsequently rebranded as Santander Private Banking. The Cater Allen , James Hay and Cahoot brands remained. Santander UK plc also retained the name Abbey National Treasury Services ltd ("ANTS") for the division responsible for managing its liquidity, risk management and wholesale banking needs. Abbey's registered office was in London (built on

1008-540: A view to opening a new channel for selling mortgages and endowment policies. The Abbey National Building Society became the first of the United Kingdom building societies to demutualise , and became a public limited company as Abbey National plc on 12 July 1989. It was floated on the London Stock Exchange at £1.30 per share, resulting in an unusually large number of small shareholders – approximately 1.8 million initially. The demutualisation process

1080-414: A year but during the housing recession of 1990-92 it lost over £50m and was closed. The range of services offered brought Abbey National ever closer to a clearing bank. In 1988, Abbey introduced a full-service interest-bearing cheque account; its administration was restricted by building society rules and the need to find a partner that could clear Abbey's cheques ( The Co-operative Bank ). Later, Abbey became

1152-576: Is another large example. A building society is a form of mutual mortgage provision organization that emerged in the UK in the 19th century, for personal savings and home mortgages. For much of the 20th century, building societies had a large share of the retail savings market, and they had their zenith after the deregulation under the Building Societies Act 1986. Following that Act, many of the larger societies, beginning with Abbey National ,

1224-500: The Nationwide Building Society , the largest remaining mutual, adopted poison pill clauses in their rules as a defense against carpetbaggers. These took the form of a charitable assignment provision that requires new members to assign any compensation from demutualization to charity. The UK motorists' organization, The Automobile Association , demutualized and was purchased by Centrica plc in 1999. The sale

1296-517: The privatisation of British Rail , leasing rolling stock to the train operating companies in the United Kingdom. The bank launched its online bank, Cahoot, in June 2000. In August 2000 The First National subsidiary purchased Highway Vehicle Management from GUS plc for £170 million. Lloyds TSB attempted to merge with the bank in July 2001, though that was ultimately rejected by the Competition Commission . Abbey also ventured into

1368-402: The 1980s have contributed to many borrowers' mortgage terms being extended by up to 15 years. During this period – which saw considerable turbulence in interest rates – Abbey extended the terms on customers' repayment style mortgages without their knowledge. The Financial Ombudsman Service stated that Abbey customers may be eligible for compensation. As a result of

1440-606: The Abbey National umbrella logo dropped. Banking literature was also simplified as part of the programme, labelled 'turning banking on its head'. On 26 July 2004, Abbey National plc and Banco Santander Central Hispano, SA announced that they had reached agreement on the terms of a recommended acquisition by Banco Santander of Abbey. Following shareholders' approval at the EGMs of Abbey (95 per cent voted in favour, despite vocal opposition from most of those present) and Santander,

1512-515: The Abbey Road Church Benefit Society. The chosen name of the society was the Abbey Road and St John’s Wood Mutual Benefit Building Society and it was launched in 1875. Three years later the Society registered under the Building Societies Act 1874 ( 37 & 38 Vict. c. 42) and the name was changed to the Abbey Road and St John’s Wood Permanent Building Society. In contrast to the high-profile public figures who founded

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1584-543: The Abbey set aside £250m to stimulate the private homes sector. Thornton worked with Local Authorities to finance inner city renovation, one of the best-known examples being the loan of £3m to the Stockbridge Village Trust to help regenerate 4,000 houses on a rundown council estate in Knowsley . Abbey even formed its own private housebuilding company, Abbey National Homes, in 1986. It built 2-300 houses

1656-534: The Australian Exchange (1998) and Toronto, Hong Kong and London Stock Exchanges in 2000. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange became a shareholder-owned public corporation in 2000 through a public offering . "The road to this initial public offering began in June 2000, when Exchange members voted overwhelmingly to transform the then not-for-profit, membership-owned organization into a for-profit, shareholder-owned corporation. On November 13, 2000, CME became

1728-529: The Bank's operations were suspended in November and December 1877, when by agreement with the other Scottish banks, the New York agency was closed. All seemed well, and in June 1878, the bank announced that there were now 133 branches and deposits of £8 million (= £600 million at 2005 prices), and it declared a 12% dividend. On 2 October, however, the directors announced the bank's closure. An examination after

1800-590: The Estates”; those advances were not to exceed two-thirds of the net value and to be repaid over ten years. Because the Society was not legally allowed to hold land in its own name, in 1858 it formed a separate company British Land to take over all the land previously held in the name of the Trustees. All the capital was subscribed by the National’s own investors but although British Land was financially distinct, there

1872-513: The National from 1933 and chief executive of the merged group from 1948, resigned, as did Stanley Ramsey the “original architect” of the merger. Abbey National was now set for rapid expansion. By 1968, the branch network had reached 150 and assets exceeded £1bn. In the next ten years the business of four other societies was acquired: the Definite Permanent in 1968, The State Building Society in 1970, Highgate Building Society in 1974 and

1944-418: The National had become the largest land society in the country. There were over 100 such societies in existence and the National claimed to be taking forty per cent of the funds. Once the plots had been purchased, the National recognized the need to provide finance for the houses that were to be built on them. In 1854 it published its first advert, inviting applications for advances “for the erection of houses on

2016-542: The National, the start of Abbey Road was more modest. By 1888, the address was still at the schoolroom of the Abbey Road Church and the Secretary advised that he would be available on Friday evenings at his home. The early years saw rapid growth in members of the Society from 111 in that first year to over 1,000 in 1884, reaching 2,000 in 1881, 3,000 in 1901 and over 7,000 by the outbreak of WWI . A new office

2088-492: The Oak Co-operative in 1979. In 1971, the Abbey was opening a branch per week and in 1974, the peak of the private housing boom, there were 335 branches and £3bn. assets. This growth could not have taken place without the increase in new private housebuilding and the expansion in home ownership that created the second-hand market; it also reflected more innovative marketing policies. This innovation reached its peak with

2160-572: The UK. The legalities of the collapse and liquidation were overseen by Alexander Bennett McGrigor . The liquidation of the US assets, primarily holdings in railroad stock which amounted to $ 5,000,000, were handled by John Stewart Kennedy 's firm J.S.Kennedy & Co. The bank's archives are now held in the Archives of the University of Glasgow . The Bank's collapse was vividly represented in

2232-467: The acquisition of freehold land, and the erection of houses thereon – to enable such of its members as are eligible, to obtain the county franchise”. (The name was changed in 1894 to The National Freehold Land and Building Society and finally to The National Building Society in 1930). The Society was not allowed to purchase land in its own name, so purchases were made by the Trustees and quickly thirteen estates were purchased around London. Within four years,

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2304-902: The acquisition was formally approved by the courts and Abbey became part of the Santander Group on 12 November 2004. Francisco Gómez Roldán took over as chief executive from Luqman Arnold, who received a rumoured £5 million, made up of pay off and share options. Gómez-Roldán died suddenly in July 2006, three weeks before being succeeded by Antonio Horta Osorio. In June 2006, Abbey agreed to sell its life businesses to Resolution plc . The businesses sold to Resolution were Scottish Mutual Assurance, Scottish Provident Limited and Abbey National Life, two offshore life companies, Scottish Mutual International and Scottish Provident International Life Assurance Limited. Abbey retained all of its branch based investment and asset management business, James Hay, Abbey's self invested personal pension company and James Hay Wrap. In July 2007, Abbey admitted that errors that it made in

2376-523: The appointment of Clive Thornton as general manager in 1979. He led a wide range of marketing initiatives, perhaps the best known being the registration of the name “Granny Bonds” to rival the National Savings product. Thornton was more than a passive supplier of funds to house purchasers. He took an activist approach to the housebuilding industry arguing that building societies should finance building of houses and flats to rent privately. In 1980,

2448-408: The bank and were given eighteen months imprisonment each. The other five directors were found guilty of uttering and publishing the balance sheets, knowing them to be false, and were sentenced to eight months imprisonment. Scores of Glasgow businesses failed as a result of the bankruptcy , and shareholders were called to make good the bank's losses. The case of one shareholder who sought to mitigate

2520-630: The bank rebranded as Abbey, and in November 2004, it became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Spanish Santander Group , with a rebrand following in February 2005. In January 2010, the savings business of Bradford & Bingley was combined with the bank, and Abbey National plc was renamed Santander UK plc. Prior to the takeover, Abbey National plc was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index . The National Building Society had its origins in

2592-562: The banking crisis of 2008, Abbey purchased the savings business and branches of Bradford & Bingley in September 2008 following the nationalisation of B&B by HM Government . The purchase of Alliance & Leicester by Santander had been agreed earlier that month. Abbey migrated all customer accounts to the Partenon computer software used by Santander in June 2008. On 27 October 2008, Abbey reached an agreement to sell Porterbrook to

2664-532: The building societies’ natural market. Between 1951 and 1954, the Conservative government removed building controls and the growth in home ownership and private housebuilding resumed. However, the Society still had little more than a hundred branches and, with the pre-war management still in control, perhaps it was no longer as innovative. Eventually, 1963 saw the departure of the “old guard”: Chairman Harold Bellman died aged 76; Bruce Wycherley, general manager of

2736-490: The closure showed net liabilities of over £6 million (equivalent to £500 million at 2005 prices), together with extensive loans on poor security and speculative investments in Australasian farming, mining stocks and American railway shares. In addition, false reports of gold holdings were made to the authorities, financial statements were falsified and the share price was held up by secret share buybacks . So successful

2808-467: The consequence by arguing that he had become a shareholder through the fraud of the bank's agents was appealed unsuccessfully to the House of Lords ("Houldsworth's case", 1880, 7 R. (H.L.) 53). Depositors and note holders did not suffer, as other banks accepted their notes, and deposits were protected by the shareholders' liability. The 1200 shareholders and their families suffered greatly. Their liability

2880-632: The end of 2006 there were fewer than 80 mutual life insurers in the United States. Some of these mutual companies award dividends to their policyowners. For example, Northwestern Mutual expects to pay more than $ 5 billion in dividends to participating policyowners in 2008. Northwestern Mutual has paid its policyowners more than $ 65 billion in dividends, since the company was founded 151 years ago. Mass Mutual Financial Group's Web site defines life insurance policy dividends. Numerous agricultural supply and marketing cooperatives have demutualized. One of

2952-430: The first U.S. exchange or commodities exchange to demutualize into a joint stock corporation." The Chicago Mercantile Exchange had its IPO on December 6, 2002. The Chicago Board of Trade similarly carried out an IPO in 2005, having previously been "a self-governing, self-regulated Delaware not-for-profit, non-stock corporation that serves individuals and member firms". The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong underwent

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3024-936: The first of a two-stage process. The second stage would be full demutualization once the transition pains into MHC status are complete. In other cases, the MHC is the final stage. Note that some mutual companies, such as Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and the MassMutual , have owned stock companies listed on a stock exchange. Nationwide bought back its subsidiary stock company in full, on December 31, 2008. These are not MHCs, however; they are simply mutual companies which have majority control over one or more stock companies. Other mutual companies may own some of another company's stock, but as simply an asset, not something they actually control. Finally, many mutual companies, including Nationwide and MassMutual, have wholly owned subsidiaries. The subsidiaries may technically be stock companies, but

3096-513: The freehold land movement, sometimes called the “forty shilling freeholders movement”. In country areas, the voting entitlement was dependent on the possession of freehold land with an annual value of £2. This required a capital outlay of some £60-70 and was outside the reach of the average worker. A scheme to obviate this capital requirement was launched in 1847 as the Birmingham Freehold Land Society. In simple terms,

3168-400: The largest, CF Industries , a manufacturer and distributor of fertilizers in the United States, was for 56 years a cooperative federation . CF then demutualized and made an initial public offering of equity stock in 2005. Another large example is Kerry Co-operative Creameries of Ireland , a milk and meat processor that partially demutualized in 1986 under the so-called Irish model, with

3240-460: The magnitude of its own equity holding of SIX Group – in this category the subsidiary SIX Swiss Exchange AG . Over 200 US mutual life insurance companies have demutualized since 1930. At the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century numerous large mutuals such as Prudential , MetLife , John Hancock , Mutual of New York , Manulife , Sun Life , Principal , and Phoenix Mutual decided to demutualize and return to policyowners all

3312-665: The mutual owns all the stock. For example, the New York Life Insurance and Annuity Corporation (NYLIAC) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the New York Life Insurance Company (NYLIC). A person may purchase an insurance policy from either company, but only those who own participating policies from NYLIC are mutual members. Other policyholders are customers. The Stockholm Stock Exchange was the first exchange to demutualize in 1993, followed by Helsinki (1995), Copenhagen (1996), Amsterdam (1997),

3384-451: The national press and opened branches outside the Society’s home area. By 1929, the number of members had exceeded 100,000 and these doubled in the following two years. It was in this inter-war period that Abbey overtook the National in size: in 1918, the National had £1.2m assets against Abbey Road’s £0.8m whereas in 1939 Abbey’s assets totalled £51m against the £36m of the National. In 1932,

3456-687: The original contact centre based in Billericay was closed in April 2009. Demutualisation The mutual traditionally raises capital from its customer members in order to provide services to them (for example building societies , where members' savings enable the provision of mortgages to members). It redistributes some profits to its members. By contrast, a joint stock company raises capital from its shareholders and other financial sources in order to provide services to its customers, with profits or assets distributed to equity or debt investors. In

3528-478: The ownership of the National’s head office, all the advances were repaid in 1878. The repayment of the British Land loans marked the final break with the old freehold land movement and this was formalized in 1880 when the National incorporated under the Building Societies Act 1874 . This gave it two important advantages: it could act under its own name and it afforded limited liability to its members, probably

3600-511: The primary business of the co-operative transferred to a publicly traded company Kerry Group and the shareholding split between the co-operative and its farmer members. Since this partial demutualisation, the co-operative has gradually reduced its holding in the Kerry Group in order to fund an extensive redemption scheme of its own co-operative shares held by farmer members. Murray Goulburn Co-operative and Australia's 2016 dairy crisis

3672-759: The profits they had accumulated as mutual life insurers. Policyowners were awarded cash, stock and policy credits exceeding $ 100 billion in a wave of demutualizations, which have been regarded by some as very rewarding to the new owners although the effect on customers is not discussed. Others show that the demutualization process is detrimental to customers. The boards of directors of other mutual companies, which include Northwestern Mutual , Massachusetts Mutual , New York Life , Pacific Life , Penn Mutual , Guardian Life , Minnesota Life , Ohio National Life , National Life Group , Union Central Life , Acacia life , and Ameritas Life decided to either remain mutual or they decided to form mutual insurance holding companies. At

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3744-492: The second largest, in 1989, and including the Halifax Building Society , the largest, soon converted into joint stock banking companies, some of which were subsequently acquired by other banks. Many societies soon became targets of speculative " carpetbaggers ", who opened savings accounts in order to obtain a windfall, in cash or shares, in the event of demutualisation. Most of the remaining societies, such as

3816-983: The site of the former Thames Television studios in Euston Road ) and its main corporate centre was in Milton Keynes . Its savings and banking administration departments were in Bradford, with mortgage centres in Thornaby-on-Tees and Whiteley (which closed in 2010). Abbey had Banking Contact Centres in Belfast, Glasgow, Sheffield, and Bootle. Business Banking operations, both administrative and telephony, were also based in Glasgow, having been moved from Taunton and Newport early in 2005. Abbey previously operated contact centres in Derby, Liverpool and Gateshead. The Derby and Liverpool centres were closed, as part of

3888-529: The society arranged for the purchase of tracts of land and divided them into plots which individuals could purchase, the cost being met by regular subscriptions. The success of the Birmingham Society prompted a flood of other societies around the country, of which the National was one. In 1849 The Metropolitan Freehold Land Society was formed, led by such prominent MPs as Joshua Walmsley , Joseph Hume and above all Richard Cobden . An application

3960-411: The society moved into new headquarters, Abbey House, at 219–229 Baker Street, London, which it occupied until 2002. The site was thought to include 221B Baker Street , the fictional home of Sherlock Holmes , and for many years Abbey employed a secretary charged with answering mail sent to Holmes at that address. WWII brought a cessation to new housebuilding and the building societies preoccupation

4032-414: The summer of 1995, Abbey National purchased First National Finance Corporation, a consumer credit company, for about £285 million. Two life assurance companies were demutualised and acquired, Scottish Mutual Assurance in 1992 and Scottish Provident in 2001, which enabled Abbey to pursue the bancassurance model. In August 1996, Abbey National took over the National & Provincial Building Society, which

4104-537: The tiny Scottish retailer, Musselburgh and Fisherrow Co-operative Society , completed most or all of the steps necessary to demutualize. In 2008, a Swiss competition regulator recommended demutualization to Switzerland's leading supermarket chains, Coop and Migros . Irish grocer-owned retailers' cooperative , ADM Londis , changed its capital structure in 2004 to an unlisted public limited company , allowing its owners to trade its stock privately at market value. City of Glasgow Bank The City of Glasgow Bank

4176-400: The wholesale loans business. At first, this provided a good profit stream, despite the criticisms of some analysts. This eventually undid the company, however, when Enron turned out to be unsafe and the 11 September attacks in New York damaged confidence in various financial areas. From this point, Abbey struggled from financial losses and a tarnished image. The chief executive, Ian Harley,

4248-526: Was a bank in Scotland that was largely known for its spectacular collapse in October 1878, which ruined all but 254 of its 1,200 shareholders since their liability was unlimited . The bank was founded in 1839 with an initial capital of £656,250 (equivalent to about £56 million at 2023 prices). It aimed to cater particularly for small savers, with its branches opening in the evenings to receive deposits. It

4320-415: Was a commonality of directors and staff. The objective was to make the National “more emphatically than it has ever been yet, a Savings Bank and Building Society.” At that point, British Land accounted for two thirds of the National’s advances. The importance of British Land to the National gradually diminished although it was not until 1874 that the proportion fell to below one half; after an internal row over

4392-435: Was completed in July 2000 for £1.1 billion. As well as the many agricultural supply cooperatives that demutualized, a small number of general retail consumer's cooperatives have demutualized or considered demutualization. In 1997, Andrew Regan launched an unsuccessful hostile takeover bid to demutualize the UK's giant Co-operative Wholesale Society , which, despite its name, was a large retailer in its own right. In 2007,

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4464-550: Was established in Virginia Street, Glasgow in 1842 and moved to 21 Glassford Street in 1851. In 1855 it moved to a huge building on Trongate at the corner of Albion St. During the Panic of 1857 , the bank had to suspend operation but later reopened and continued trading. For a long time before the bank's closure, dividends were paid at 9%-12%. On discovery of a £7,000 deficit (equivalent to £½ million at 2005 prices),

4536-498: Was eventually required in 1906. However, even after the War, the Abbey Road “was little known outside the borough of Paddington in which it was situated” The catalyst for change was the arrival of Sir Harold Bellman, later a commanding figure in the building society sector. He joined the board of management in 1918 and became Secretary of the Society in 1921. He overhauled every aspect of the operations, introduced improvements, advertised in

4608-410: Was implemented at the beginning of 1944 with Sir Harold Bellman as Chairman and Stanley Ramsey as his deputy. At the time of the merger, Abbey Road was the second largest society and National, the sixth. The post-war Labour government ensured that resources for housing reconstruction was almost entirely concentrated on local authority housing, while stringent controls severely limited the private sector,

4680-581: Was itself the product of a 1982 merger between the Provincial Building Society and the Burnley Building Society . This merger increased Abbey National's branch network by almost two hundred branches and brought in three million more customers. In April 2000, Abbey bought Porterbrook from Stagecoach Group for £773 million. Porterbrook was one of the three railway rolling stock operating companies created from by

4752-480: Was made to register under the 1836 Building Societies Act but the registrar refused to accept the name. Accordingly, the name was changed to The National Permanent Mutual Building Society, with an authorization for it to be commonly called The National Freehold Land Society. Despite the building society registration and formal name, there was no doubt as to the National’s function. The 1852 Prospectus clearly stated that “The special objects of this Society are to facilitate

4824-540: Was marred by the discovery of a large number of undelivered share certificates awaiting destruction at a contractor's premises. Abbey National shares peaked at more than £14 in 2000, before the stock market began a long decline. After losses of at least £243 million, Abbey National decided to sell its estate agency business Cornerstone to two entrepreneurs, Tony Snarey and Bill McClintock, in a management buyout backed by insurance company Provident Life for £8 million in August 1993. The 347-strong chain employed 1,800 staff and

4896-410: Was part of a wave of bank formations that saw 16 Scottish banks established between 1825 and 1840. By the 1870s the bank had grown to have the third-largest branch network in the United Kingdom. As was common at the time its shareholders had unlimited liability and so they were jointly liable to cover any debts and were called to inject additional funds to cover any losses. The bank's principal office

4968-533: Was subject to a write-down of £138 million in March 1993 following annual losses since 1989 of at c. £20 million. Having sold off around 280 branches in 1994, the remaining 70 branches of Cornerstone (although over 200 of the sold branches continued to use the name at the time) were put into receivership in October 1995. In July 1994, Abbey National purchased James Hay, one of the United Kingdom's foremost independent providers of self administered pensions. James Hay then went on to grow in strength and launched Abbey Wrap,

5040-583: Was supporting mortgage owners and the consequences of bomb damage to properties. By 1943, as the prospect of victory increased, the Government led discussions on post-war reconstruction. The National’s Chairman, Stanley Ramsey, argued that greater scale would be needed to deal with the financial challenges of reconstruction and in 1943 he proposed a merger to the Abbey Road. The merger under the Abbey National Building Society name

5112-578: Was the deception that on the Bank's last business day, its £100 shares were selling at £236. The directors were arrested and tried at the High Court in Edinburgh in January 1879. Their sentence was pronounced on 1 February. The Manager, Robert Stronach and Lewis Potter, who had been a director of the bank since its establishment, were found guilty of falsifying and fabricating the balance sheets of

5184-433: Was unlimited, and the failure ruined most of them. A public subscription was set up to help the shareholders, almost all of whom were bankrupted by the disaster, in the form of a national relief fund, which received £379,670 in donations by 1882. Wider effects of the collapse have been seen in the growth of limited liability and a temporary banking liquidity problem, and a longer-term reduced trend in bank deposits across

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