the world of private banking

LONDON’S FIRSt ‘BIG BANG’? 71
Figure 4.6 ‘Effective’ corporate financial registrations in London, 1856–83
considered. These suggest that, between 1863 and 1866, banks, discount companies
and finance companies collectively accounted for 36.4 per cent of capital offered
for public subscription and 27.1 per cent of capital publicly subscribed. 14 Public
financial promotions, although significant, were not to have the same weight
in new issues during the subsequent flotation booms of the early 1870s and the
14
Calculated from the Spackman composite list published in The Commercial History
and Review of 1866, p. 35 [supplement to The Economist (9 Mar. 1867)]. These annual
lists of public companies, compiled by Messrs. Spackman, were published annually in The
Times on 31 Dec. from 1860. Up to 1862 they provide merely names of public companies
and their nominal capitals, only becoming more detailed from 1863. It was maintained
that solely public companies were enumerated ‘as many never get beyond registration, and
others are registered for private purposes’.