Lloyds Bank

one of the most powerful joint-stock commercial banks of Great Britain. It is part of the Big Four, which up until 1968 was the Big Five.

Lloyds Bank was founded in Birmingham in 1765 under the name of Taylor and Lloyd. In 1889 it was renamed Lloyds Bank. In its existence it has absorbed more than 50 banks. Lloyds Bank heads a group of subsidiary banks and finance companies both within the country and abroad, including Lewis’s Bank, Lloyds Bank Property Company, and Lloyds Associated Air Leasing. It is involved in the capital affairs of a number of large banks and finance companies. Directly and through partial ownership, Lloyds Bank is associated with the metallurgical and machine-building industry (particularly automobile and airplane construction), sectors of the petroleum refining industry, and steamship companies. Through its subsidiary Lewis’s Bank, Lloyds Bank controls a network of the country’s largest department stores. In 1970–71, Lloyds Bank Europe (owned by Lloyds Bank) was merged with the Bank of London and South America (in which Lloyds Bank owned approximately 25 percent of the capital) to form a large international bank, Lloyds and Bolsa International Bank (since 1974, Lloyds Bank International). Lloyds Bank obtained the controlling share of stocks in this bank and thus gained access to both Western European and Latin American countries.

Lloyds Bank conducts all forms of banking operations. It maintains correspondence relations with the major banks of practically all countries, including socialist states. In 1972 it had approximately 2,500 branches throughout Great Britain. The balance sum of Lloyds Bank as of Jan. 1, 1973, was £3,070 million, with capital and reserves of £308 million and total deposits and current accounts of £2,734 million.