Hambros Bank
Encyclopedia
Hambros Bank was a British
bank
based in London
. The Hambros bank was a specialist in Anglo-Scandinavian business with expertise in trade finance and investment banking
, and was the sole banker to the Scandinavia
n kingdoms for many years. The Bank was sold in 1998, and today survives only in the name of the private banking division of the French
group Société Générale
, which is called SG Hambros Bank Ltd.
merchant and banker Carl Joachim Hambro
in London
in 1839 as C. J. Hambro & Son. During the 1850s he was responsible for arranging various British
Government
loan stock issues enabling the bank to prosper.
(owned by Enskilda Banken
and a number of Scandinavian savings banks) in 1921 the name was changed to Hambros Bank, and the firm expanded. As a result, in 1926 a bigger head office was constructed at 41 Bishopsgate, where the bank remainded until 1988. The 1930 depression
affected the bank's international business and it concentrated on domestic lending and Scandinavia. During World War II
, Sir Charles Hambro
raised finance for the exile Norwegian government and was also the head of the Special Operations Executive
.
and Guernsey
to take advantage of the offshore tax benefits.
The 1970s marked Hambros' expansion into new areas of financial services - in particular, asset management, investment management for third parties, investment funds and insurance. An offshore private banking and trust operation was established in 1981 in Gibraltar
to complement the offices in London, Jersey and Guernsey.
. Under the direction of Charles Perrin, who started his career in the Bank as Assistant Company Secretary, the Bank defended itself against litigation from his Trustees in Bankruptcy and the Norwegian Government on and off for nearly 25 years, including two substantial out of court settlements.
This resulted in substantially less Hambro family influence in the banking group and, in July 1997, in the promotion of Chips Keswick
to Chairman of the Bank and Charles Perrin (of Reksten fame) to Vice Chairman and later CEO.
bank Société Générale
, which the majority of the shareholders accepted. Chips Keswick was the prime promotor of the Société Générale takeover together with his Vice Chairmen Charles Perrin, who was the last CEO of Hambros Bank Ltd.
Hambros PLC, including the private equity and investment side, was later sold to Investec, a South African bank. In November 1998, the Hambros core private banking activities were renamed SG Hambros Bank & Trust Limited. As well as the London, Jersey, Guernsey and Gibraltar operations, a subsidiary of Coutts Bank in the Bahamas also became part of the SG Hambros Group.
(Edmund Truell, ex Hambro European Ventures CEO), STAR Capital Partners (Tony Mallin, ex Vice Chairman of Hambros Bank), and Getty Images
(Paul Getty/Jonathan Klein, both ex Hambros Bank Corporate Finance Directors), to mention a few. One of the largest companies being formed by the family has been the highly successful Peter Hambro Mining and Gold
- now one of the largest companies listed on the AIM exchange in London
Wiltons Restaurant of Jermyn Street, London, near St James' (owned by Richard Hambro) is still the favourite wateringhole for ex-Hambro Directors/Employees, their families, clients and friends.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
based in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The Hambros bank was a specialist in Anglo-Scandinavian business with expertise in trade finance and investment banking
Investment banking
An investment bank is a financial institution that assists individuals, corporations and governments in raising capital by underwriting and/or acting as the client's agent in the issuance of securities...
, and was the sole banker to the Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n kingdoms for many years. The Bank was sold in 1998, and today survives only in the name of the private banking division of the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
group Société Générale
Société Générale
Société Générale S.A. is a large European Bank and a major Financial Services company that has a substantial global presence. Its registered office is on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, while its head office is in the Tours Société Générale in the business district of La...
, which is called SG Hambros Bank Ltd.
Early history
Hambros was founded by the DanishDenmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
merchant and banker Carl Joachim Hambro
Carl Joachim Hambro (banker)
Baron Carl Joachim Hambro was the founder of Hambros Bank, one of the United Kingdom's largest investment banks.-Personal life:He was born in Copenhagen as a son of Joseph Hambro . The family lineage can be traced to Rendsburg, Schleswig-Holstein in the 1720s...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1839 as C. J. Hambro & Son. During the 1850s he was responsible for arranging various British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
loan stock issues enabling the bank to prosper.
Pre-war and World War II
After merging with the British Bank of Northern CommerceBritish Bank of Northern Commerce
Knut Agathon Wallenberg of the Stockholms Enskilda Bank and Emil Glückstadt of Landmansbanken founded the British Bank of Northern Commerce in February 1912, together with several other banks including Centralbanken for Norge , Banque de Commerce de l`Azoff-Don , and Banque de Paris et des Pays Bas...
(owned by Enskilda Banken
Stockholms Enskilda Bank
Stockholms Enskilda Bank, sometimes called Enskilda banken or SEB, was a Swedish bank, founded in 1856 by André Oscar Wallenberg as Stockholm's first private bank...
and a number of Scandinavian savings banks) in 1921 the name was changed to Hambros Bank, and the firm expanded. As a result, in 1926 a bigger head office was constructed at 41 Bishopsgate, where the bank remainded until 1988. The 1930 depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
affected the bank's international business and it concentrated on domestic lending and Scandinavia. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Sir Charles Hambro
Charles Jocelyn Hambro
Air Commodore Sir Charles Jocelyn Hambro, KBE, MC was a merchant banker and intelligence officer.-Career:He was born into a banking family of Danish origin which had settled in Dorset and the City of London in the early 19th century. He was the son of Charles Eric Hambro, a partner in C. J...
raised finance for the exile Norwegian government and was also the head of the Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
.
Post-war development
After World War II, Hambros became also known as the 'diamond bank' with its thriving activity in financing the diamond industry and its trade. Hambros was one of the top three banks in the Euromarket by the mid 1960s. In 1967 the private banking and trust operations were expanded offshore and new offices were opened in JerseyJersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
and Guernsey
Guernsey
Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...
to take advantage of the offshore tax benefits.
The 1970s marked Hambros' expansion into new areas of financial services - in particular, asset management, investment management for third parties, investment funds and insurance. An offshore private banking and trust operation was established in 1981 in Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
to complement the offices in London, Jersey and Guernsey.
Shipping crises and Hilmar Reksten
In the mid-1970s the Bank was badly hit by the shipping crises and repeatedly hindered by its relationship with the Norwegian magnate Hilmar RekstenHilmar Reksten
Hilmar A Reksten was a Norwegian shipping magnate. After studying business in Cologne, he started his own company in 1929...
. Under the direction of Charles Perrin, who started his career in the Bank as Assistant Company Secretary, the Bank defended itself against litigation from his Trustees in Bankruptcy and the Norwegian Government on and off for nearly 25 years, including two substantial out of court settlements.
Hambro family break up
In 1986, the Hambro Trust, the majority shareholder in the bank, was dissolved and the family went their separate ways. Lord Hambro (with his children Clare, Charles and Alex) stayed with the bank and Jocelyn Hambro (with his children Rupert, Richard and James) set up J O Hambro and Sons: Jocelyn Hambro and his sons were very successful in their new businesses, more than making up for the "loss" of the bank.This resulted in substantially less Hambro family influence in the banking group and, in July 1997, in the promotion of Chips Keswick
Chips Keswick
Sir John Chippendale "Chips" Lindley Keswick is a British businessman and a member of the Keswick family which control Hong Kong company Jardine Matheson, founded by William Jardine.-Career:...
to Chairman of the Bank and Charles Perrin (of Reksten fame) to Vice Chairman and later CEO.
Disposal
By the end of the decade Hambros had 1,400 staff, 900 of whom were based at 41 Tower Hill in London, where the head office is still based today. In February 1998 the Hambros PLC board recommended a sale of Hambros Bank Ltd to the FrenchFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
bank Société Générale
Société Générale
Société Générale S.A. is a large European Bank and a major Financial Services company that has a substantial global presence. Its registered office is on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, while its head office is in the Tours Société Générale in the business district of La...
, which the majority of the shareholders accepted. Chips Keswick was the prime promotor of the Société Générale takeover together with his Vice Chairmen Charles Perrin, who was the last CEO of Hambros Bank Ltd.
Hambros PLC, including the private equity and investment side, was later sold to Investec, a South African bank. In November 1998, the Hambros core private banking activities were renamed SG Hambros Bank & Trust Limited. As well as the London, Jersey, Guernsey and Gibraltar operations, a subsidiary of Coutts Bank in the Bahamas also became part of the SG Hambros Group.
Boutiques and spin-offs
Several boutiques and spin-offs originated from or arose out of the ashes of Hambros Banking Group, including JO Hambro and Sons (Jocelyn Hambro and his sons), Hambro Magan Corporate Finance (JO Hambro and Mr Magan), J O Hambro Capital Management (James Hambro), JO Hambro Investment Management (Rupert, Richard and James Hambro), Rupert Hambro & Partners, Firecrest Hambro (Charles Edward Hambro Jr), EC Hambro Rabben & Partners (Clare Hambro), Duke Street CapitalDuke Street Capital
Duke Street is a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in middle-market companies in Western Europe, particularly the UK and France....
(Edmund Truell, ex Hambro European Ventures CEO), STAR Capital Partners (Tony Mallin, ex Vice Chairman of Hambros Bank), and Getty Images
Getty Images
Getty Images, Inc. is a stock photo agency, based in Seattle, Washington, USA. It is a supplier of stock images for business and consumers with an archive of 80 million still images and illustrations and more than 50,000 hours of stock film footage...
(Paul Getty/Jonathan Klein, both ex Hambros Bank Corporate Finance Directors), to mention a few. One of the largest companies being formed by the family has been the highly successful Peter Hambro Mining and Gold
Peter Hambro Mining and Gold
Petropavlovsk plc is a London-based gold mining company with operations in Russia. Its shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange and are constituents of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...
- now one of the largest companies listed on the AIM exchange in London
Wiltons Restaurant of Jermyn Street, London, near St James' (owned by Richard Hambro) is still the favourite wateringhole for ex-Hambro Directors/Employees, their families, clients and friends.
External links
- Richard Hambro - Daily Telegraph obituary