From Bear Stearns to Lehman Brothers, the U.S. has seen some of its most storied banking franchises vanish recently. The same is happening across the Atlantic. And this being the "old world," some of these institutions will close the books on remarkably long histories.
Bradford & Bingley, a UK-based mortgage lender, was nationalized yesterday. The company traces its roots back to 1851, when its constituent parts were founded within a few miles of each other in West Yorkshire. Until fairly recently, the group's logo featured "two silhouetted city gents in bowler hats," a play on the company's extensive experience and old-school values.
Also yesterday, the Icelandic government took control of Glitnir, the country's third-largest bank. The group dates back to 1904, when it became the first privately-owned bank in Iceland. In Norse mythology, Glitnir is the place where the god of justice holds court, under a silver roof supported by pillars of gold.
Fortis was the biggest casualty of Monday's madness. After liquidity concerns savaged its shares, the financial services group was part-nationalized by the governments of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. It will be forced to sell most of the parts of ABN Amro it bought last year for a fraction of the price it paid, putting core equity at risk.
Fortis can trace its history all the way back to the 18th century. Its precursors supported Catherine the Great's overhaul of property rights in Russia and financed the U.S. purchase of Louisiana from Napoleon. In the subprime borrowers of the 21st century, however, the bank may have finally met its match. |
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