the world of private banking

LONDON’S FIRSt ‘BIG BANG’? 87
Figure 4.8 ‘Effective’ corporate banking registrations in London, 1856–83
merged with the private bank of Masterman, Peters, Mildred & Co., thereby
extending its range to metropolitan banking. Before 1866, it had also opened
branches in Australia, China and continental Europe while developing unwise
relationships with the finance companies, in particular General Credit & Finance
and the (English) Crédit Foncier. 62
The Agra, like some domestic banks and other overseas banks, was a victim of
‘bear’ share selling during the opening months of 1866, with in its case its shares
consequently falling from £67 to £5 at its closure. A similar target was the European,
originally in 1862 the Union Bank of England & France, which had then merged
with the English, Belgian & Netherlands and the London, Birmingham & South
Staffordshire. Another ‘bear’ sell, the London, Bombay & Mediterranean, was,
likewise, the product of three boom mergers. The Agra’s closure brought down
62
A.S.J. Baster, The Imperial Banks (London, 1929), pp. 129–30; and Jones,
Multinational Banking, pp. 23–4.