A meeting of local merchants resolved to establish their own bank, rather than rely on a local partnership of the London-based National Bank of Ireland which would have diverted profits and deposits to England.
1836 The new joint stock bank opened for business in Waring Street, Belfast, as Ulster Banking Co.
From the outset Ulster Banking Co issued its own banknotes and resolved to open branches "in the principal trading towns throughout Ulster.’ Within a year it had 9 branches in Ulster and had appointed correspondent banks in London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Dublin and the United States of America.
1860 New head office opened at Waring Street, Belfast.
1867 registered as an unlimited company.
1883 Adopted limited liability, becoming Ulster Bank Ltd.
WWI the bank provided gold to the government and participated in supporting war loan issues.
1917 Consolidation in the UK banking sector, combined with the political upheaval which followed the Easter Rising in 1916, prompted the takeover of Ulster Bank by London County and Westminster Bank.
Ulster Bank retained its name and continued to be run independently by a Belfast Advisory Committee.
1961 the management and capital of Ulster Bank was reorganised and a new board with defined functions and powers was appointed.
During 2001 Ulster Bank Group simplified its corporate structure by transferring its banking business in the Republic of Ireland to Ulster Bank Ireland Ltd.
2004 Acquisition by The Royal Bank of Scotland Group of the Dublin-based mortgage and savings bank First Active plc.
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] RBS Heritage