Alliance and Leicester: History of Growth

Alliance and Leicester today is a landmark institution in the UK’s financial scenery. The group is a major player in both commercial and personal banking market with 5.5 million personal customers and handling over £63 billion in business transactions. Two major events in the history of Alliance and Leicester group were the merger between Alliance and Leicester Building Societies in 1985 and the acquisition of Girobank in 1990.
However, the origin of the group dates back to the 1852 when Leicester Permanent Benefit Society was created. From that point on a steady growth has slowly transformed the organization from a local office with a few members to a larger national outfit that it became in 1940s. By 1950s through organic internal growth coupled with aggressive acquisition program Leicester Permanent Benefit Society became one of the Top 10 building societies in the country.
At the same time Alliance Building Society also came to the forefront of UK’s financial scene. In 1985 the two merged into what is known today as Alliance and Leicester Group. The organisation continued to grow both internally and externally constantly scanning for new acquisitions. In 1989 one such acquisition occurred that catapulted the firm into the elite. Alliance and Leicester acquired Girobank being the first ever building society to buy a clearing bank. The new partnership has allowed Alliance and Leicester to venture further into the fields of commercial and personal banking and reach a greater number of customers. In 1994, for example, personal banking sections of Girobank and A&L were joined together and 24-hour telephone banking program was launched.
In 1997 the group made a decision to convert from a Building Society into a publicly owned corporation giving its members free shares. In April of that year Alliance and Leicester becomes a bank and its shares get listed on the London Stock Exchange.
With the growth of technology in the late 90's Alliance and Leicester tried to stay at the forefront of the financial innovation. The bank became one of the first to take applications for credit cards and loans over the internet. Also, the bank was UK’s first to offer cashbacks on purchases made with the bank’s credit card. In 1999 Mortgage Direct is launched providing individuals with a better access to the mortgage market. By the year 2000 most of the bank’s products and services are available online.
The strategy of innovation and strategic partnerships continues today. In this decade, a number of strategic alliances were formed and new and innovative programs were launched such as www.moneyback.co.uk, partnership with MBNA bank, Online Saver savings account, Car Price index and many more. Today the company continues to build its reputation as a reliable yet innovative financial services provider and the future definitely looks bright.

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