ABSTRACT
Although the growth in the number of English and Welsh banks during the three decades after 1780 was substantial, it was but a catching-up of developments north of the border, as in the early 1770s Scottish banking was the most developed in Europe (Checkland, 1975). In terms of organizational and business practice Scotland was to remain in the van until the 1820s. During the 1760s, Glasgow and the southwest of Scotland was the initial centre for the expansion of provincial banking companies. This region remained the core when this growth reached a peak in 1810, when there were 25 provincial banking companies (19.4). The other major geographical concentration was in Tayside and Fife where the number of provincial banks rose from 2 in 1772 to 3 in 1792, 7 in 1810 and 8 in 1825. The only area of contraction in the Scottish industry was the
19.1-3 Numbers, assets and liabilities of banks, 1784-1914
decline of metropolitan private banking with the number of such firms in Edinburgh and Glasgow falling from nineteen in 1772 to ten, by 1810.
