ABSTRACT
Inaccessibility was not the preserve of Swiss banks at the time; it still prevailed in many banks and in many countries. The open policy of the Midland Bank was the exception rather than the rule, in Britain as elsewhere. Thus, we must appreciate how much ground has been gained in the last twenty years or so, and Edwin Green has given us an excellent survey of the long-term development of bank archives, of the problems posed by their conservation and by their use, and of the opportunities which could, and should, be seized in the near future. The following commentary will briefly discuss some of the points raised by Edwin Green from the point of view of the historian.
