Yorkshire Bank

The bank was established on 1 May 1859 by Colonel Edward Akroyd of Halifax. Based in Leeds in the West Riding of Yorkshire it was known as the West Riding Penny Savings Bank. It had originally been planned as a provident society but the status of savings bank was eventually chosen.

The bank was registered under the Friendly Societies Act and individual deposits were restricted to £30 per annum, up to a cumulative balance of £150. Within a year, the bank had opened 24 branches, and a further 104 in the year after. Sub-branches were opened in schools and church halls.

Yorkshire Penny Bank blue plaque

The bank was operated on a non profit making basis and in 1860 it was decided to extend operation to the other Ridings of Yorkshire. To recognise this the name was changed to the Yorkshire Penny Bank. In 1872, it issued cheque books for the first time, primarily for small tradesmen. At that time the bank became the first to create school banks, to encourage the idea of saving at an early age.

In 1911 depositors' balances were valued at £18 million although reserves were only £500,000 and that existing guarantees were not enough. The Bank of England organised a takeover by a consortium of banks (National Provincial Bank, Westminster Bank, Williams Deacons Bank, Lloyds Bank, Barclays Bank, Glyn Mills) and the Yorkshire Penny Bank adopted limited liability. After this the bank was able to offer overdrafts for the first time.

In its centenary year of 1959, the bank's name changed to Yorkshire Bank Limited. During the 1970s the bank became one of the first to offer fee free banking whilst in credit, a move that took bigger rivals a decade to follow. In 1982, it adopted public limited company status.

During the miners' strike from 1984 to 1985, the bank offered miners who were mortgage holders a deferment, allowing them to postpone payments for the duration of the dispute. The strike took place in the bank's heartland and many miners were customers, having been encouraged by the National Coal Board to have their pay mandated to a bank account.

A high street branch of the Yorkshire Bank in Peterborough

In 1990, the National Australia Bank Group acquired the bank from the consortium of owning banks which, after mergers and acquisitions, were the National Westminster Bank, (holders of 40%), Barclays Bank (32%), Lloyds Bank (20%), and Royal Bank of Scotland (8%). The price paid was £1 billion and the bank joined National Australia Bank's other European businesses, Clydesdale Bank (Scotland) and Northern Bank (which operated in both jurisdictions in Ireland).

In May 2005, the National Australia Bank announced its intention to merge the Yorkshire Bank with the Clydesdale under one operating licence, in which the former would be a trading name of the latter. Both operate under separate identities although the Clydesdale brand is the one that has been used in further expansion into the south of England (Northern Bank was sold to Danske Bank of Denmark along with its operations in the Republic of Ireland, the National Irish Bank). At the same time 40 branches were closed, a reduction of a fifth of the Yorkshire Bank network.[1]

In 2006 underlying profit rose 16.7 per cent to £454 million compared with a year earlier, while post-tax earnings climbed 12.8 per cent to £229 million. Total income was up 8.7 per cent at £1,193 million, while net interest income climbed 14.6 per cent to £769 million.[2]

In April 2012, National Australia Bank completed a strategic review of its businesses in the United Kingdom and decided to scale back operations, completely stopping Commercial Property Investment lending and closing 29 Financial Solutions Centres, with the resultant loss of 1,400 jobs over three years.[3]

The Yorkshire Bank Headquarters in Leeds in 2008

In July 2013, Yorkshire Bank forgot to renew its domain name, leading to customers being unable to log onto its website for a number of days. Yorkshire Bank blamed individual ISPs saying they had not refreshed their servers.[4] On 2 September 2014 the bank suffered more IT related issues as its systems left customers unable to make or receive payments for a period of time.[5]

National Australia Bank confirmed in October 2014 that it planned to exit the United Kingdom, and was considering a number of options for Yorkshire and Clydesdale Banks, including a possible stock market listing.[6] In October 2015, NAB announced that it will float Clydesdale Bank plc, including Yorkshire Bank, on the London Stock Exchange in February 2016 through an initial public offering,[7] with an aim of raising £2 billion.[8]

Clydesdale Bank plc's newly formed holding company CYBG plc began conditional trading on the LSE and the Australian Securities Exchange on 3 February 2016, and began trading unconditionally from 8 February 2016.[9]

In June 2018, CYBG plc announced it would acquire Virgin Money for £1.7 billion in an all-stock deal. Almost one in six employees are expected to lose their jobs in the takeover, which will result in retail customers being migrated to the Virgin Money brand over three years.[10]

In June 2019, CYBG plc announced its plans to consolidate its businesses under the Virgin Money brand. B and Yorkshire Bank, which exist as trading divisions of Clydesdale Bank plc will begin to use the Virgin Money name in early 2020 and Clydesdale Bank will use the new name from late 2020 to early 2021.[11] In September 2019, Yorkshire Bank confirmed it will be leaving its Leeds headquarters, with two hundred employees being relocated to the bank's flagship branch on Briggate.[12] In preparation for re-branding, the existing Virgin Money plc was merged into the existing Clydesdale Bank plc on 21 October 2019.[13]