Analyses the emergence, growth and performance from the 1830s to the present

This general history of British multinational banking analyzes the emergence, growth and performance of UK banks from their origins in the 1830s to the present day. It is based on a range of confidential banking records, placed in the context of modern theories of competitive advantage.

Hidden Interests in Credit and Finance takes an anthropological approach to the roots of Western finance and credit in ancient societies from early Mesopotamia to eleventh-century Islam. The authors reveal that credit is not just an economic transaction but also a social relationship and a technology of power.

Annotation This comparative, international study looks at origins and business strategies of multinational banks. A team of distinguished bankers and academics surveys the evolution of multinational banks over time and suggests a conceptual framework in which this development can be understood.

London and Paris, the world's two leading financial centres in the nineteenth century, experienced differing fortunes during the twentieth century. While London remained an international financial centre, Paris' influence declined. Yet over the last twenty years deregulation, internationalization, and the advent of the single currency have reactivated their competition in ways reminiscent of their old rivalry before the First World War. This book provides a long-term perspective on the development of each centre, with special attention devoted to the pre-1914 years and to the last decades of the twentieth century, in order to contrast these two eras of globalization. The chapters include both archive-based and synthetic surveys and are written by the leading specialists of the field. This comparison between Europe's two leading capital cities will also provide new insights into two important subjects: the political economy of Britain and France in the twentieth century, and the history of international financial centres. As much as a comparison between London and Paris as international financial centres, this book is an Anglo-French comparison; in other words, it considers, through the prism of finance, several aspects of the two countries' economic, business, social, and political histories. It includes contributions from leading banking, financial, and economic historians, and will be of interest to academics, researchers, and students of Financial and Economic History, and the role of London and Paris in particular.

"This book contributes to contemporary globalization debates by providing a survey of the growth and role of multinational enterprises in the world economy over the last two hundred years"--Provided by publisher.