Danske Bank (Northern Ireland)
Northern Bank Limited (trading as Danske Bank) is a retail bank in Northern Ireland. Northern Banking Company Limited was formed from a private bank, with the Deed of Partnership being signed on 1 August 1824. It is one of the oldest banks in Ireland with its private banking history dating back to 1809, and forms part of one of the Big Four banks in Ireland. Northern Bank took on the name of its parent company Danske Bank as its trading name in November 2012. It is a leading bank in Northern Ireland and a growing bank in Great Britain. In Northern Ireland, the Bank issues its own banknotes. Danske Bank is a standalone business unit within the Danske Bank Group and operates under a UK banking licence. History A private Northern Bank was founded in Belfast in 1809 as the Northern Banking Partnership. Those partners were Belfast merchants John Hamilton, Hugh Montgomery, James Orr and John Sloan. On 1 August 1824 it became a Joint Stock bank called The Northern Banking Company Limited. The bank expanded across Ireland, opening its first branch in the south in 1840. On 1 January 1929 the name of the bank was changed from Northern Banking Company Limited to Northern Bank Limited. In 1965, the Northern Bank Limited was acquired by the Midland Bank, a London-based bank which had acquired the Belfast Bank in 1917. In 1970, the Midland's two Northern Ireland subsidiaries were merged with the name of the merged bank continuing as Northern Bank Limited. Under Midland's ownership, Northern Bank shared its parent company's branding and the Griffin logo. In 1986, Midland re-organised its British and Irish operations, and as part of this process it separated its Northern Bank branches in the Republic of Ireland and transferred into a newly formed company called Northern Bank (Ireland) Limited. Acquisition by National Australia Bank Midland Bank ran into severe financial difficulty as a result of its 1981 acquisition of Crocker National Bank in the US and was forced to divest itself of assets to restore stability. In 1988, Midland sold off its subsidiaries, namely the Clydesdale Bank in Scotland, Northern Bank Limited and Northern Bank (Ireland) Limited, all of which were acquired by National Australia Bank. After this, Northern Bank (Ireland) Limited was renamed National Irish Bank. The Northern Bank brand name continued in Northern Ireland, but a new logo was introduced, a stylised "N" in a hexagon shape. In 2002, the bank's logotype (the word "Northern") was changed to match that of the National Australia Bank. Acquisition by Danske Bank In December 2004, the Denmark-based Danske Bank Group agreed to acquire Northern Bank and National Irish Bank for £967m. The sale of the two banks marked National Australia Bank's exit from the Irish banking markets. Don Price remained as CEO, but was later replaced by Gerry Mallon in June 2008. The acquisition was completed in 2005 and Danske Bank invested approximately £100m in Northern Bank. As part of this process, National Irish Bank was