Clydesdale Bank (1838-)

Banknotes

The Clydesdale Bank opened for business on 7th May 1838 as the Clydesdale Banking Company with its Head Office in Glasgow and a single branch in Edinburgh. Today it's the only Bank with its Head Office in Glasgow.

Throughout its entire history the Bank's fortunes have been closely linked with those of Scotland's traders, industrialists and merchants. From the heyday of the cotton trade, through the development and latterly the demise of the steel industry, the great era of shipbuilding on the River Clyde and elsewhere and the rich agricultural history of Scotland, we have been closely involved in all of these and many more.

More recently the oil and gas industries, microchip technology and the growing importance of tourism and leisure have brought new challenges. We provide banking services geared to the needs of these and the developing service industries.

By a series of mergers and acquisitions, the Bank has grown from its modest beginnings as a local Glasgow based Bank to being one of the major Scottish Clearing Banks with 274 branches across Scotland, in London and the North of England.

Through our world-wide network of Correspondent Banks we are able to provide our business customers with on the spot banking and financial assistance in countries where they wish to do business, whether as importers or exporters.

Clydesdale Bank has long had a reputation as an innovator in banking and we have a commendable string of 'firsts' to our credit:

1899		First Scottish Bank to introduce adding machines
1948		First British Bank to have mobile branches
1958		First Scottish Bank to advertise on television
1958		First Scottish Bank to introduce personal loans
1966		First Scottish Bank to introduce cheque guarantee cards
1971		First British Bank to introduce security cameras into branches
1978		First British Bank to introduce computer linked teller terminals in our branches

This tradition of innovation has continued with our early introduction of AutoBanks, our ATM (Automated Telling Machines), a pioneering EFTPOS (Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale) service and the latest innovation - Screenphone.

Our ATMs now number some 400 across the country, providing cash withdrawal, balance enquiry and statement request facilities, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Over 40,000,000 transactions are carried out by these ATMs every year. Through Clydesdale Bank's membership of LINK and our reciprocal arrangements with other banks, our customers may use their AutoBank cards to obtain cash at over 23,000 ATMs across the UK

Clydesdale Bank was one of the first banks to recognise the importance of electronic banking when in 1987 we introduced our screen-based TeleBank service aimed mainly at business customers. After an extremely positive response, we recognised that personal customers have similar, but perhaps more straightforward requirements and this led us to launch the TeleBank Telephone service the following year. Users of this service hear a human voice reading their balances and other information, over a standard telephone line from anywhere in the world. Screenphone is our latest on-line service. Launched in 1998 it allows customers to manage their banking needs through a telephone with integral screen.

Our dedicated Telephone Centre in Clydebank, one of the largest such operations in Scotland, is providing a growing number of customers with the convenience of telephone banking. A twenty four hour interactive telephone banking service was introduced in August 1997 to allow customers to carry out a range of transactions including checking the balance of their accounts, paying bills, transferring funds between accounts and ordering cheque books and statements. The new interactive service complements the existing operator telephone service which is available from 8.00am to 8.00pm Monday to Friday.

We issue our own banknotes in denominations of £5, £10, £20, £50, and £100. Our banknotes in circulation at any one time have a value in excess of £350,000,000. The current series of Clydesdale Bank banknotes features prominent historical figures of Scottish Life and Letters on one side of the notes and scenes depicting their activities on the other. The present notes depict Robert Burns, Mary Slessor, Robert The Bruce, Adam Smith, and Lord Kelvin. In May 1999 the Bank launched a special edition £20 bank note featuring Alexander 'Greek' Thomson.

In October 1987 Clydesdale Bank was acquired by National Australia Bank Group, who are based in Melbourne and we are now a member of a major international banking group.

The Bank has invested heavily in branch automation and computer systems and a new purpose build computer centre in Clydebank near Glasgow, all aimed at improving the service we provide to our customers.

In the next millennium Scotland will face new challenges from a changing business environment, economic trends and the day to day changes in our daily lives. As in the past, Clydesdale Bank will continue to be closely involved in all of these developments, meeting the needs of our personal and business customers who are the lifeblood of Scotland's future prosperity.