ABSTRACT
In its broad structure the contemporary Scottish banking system reproduces, on a smaller regional scale, the pattern of English banking. It is a highly concentrated system composed of a small number of banks operating through countrywide networks of branch offices. The pattern of concentration, now carried to such an extreme in the case of England and Wales, is actually much older in Scotland. The following table gives a view of its evolution in the two systems: Number of Banks in Scotland and England and Wales, 1844–1960 https://www.niso.org/standards/z39-96/ns/oasis-exchange/table">
year
scotland
england and wales
1844
19
441
1900
9
106
1960
5
10 1
This is the number of the London Clearing banks minus the National Bank which operates mainly in Ireland.
