Top five list of banks in the U.K.

The UK banking industry is dominated by a small selection of what are referred to as High Street banks, with very few local banking institutions still in existence. Many of these have been bought out by larger banks and since the credit crunch of 2008, several larger banks have been purchased by overseas financial companies.

High Street banks

Barclays Barclays is one of the oldest banks in the UK, having been first formed in 1690 and changing its name to Barclays in 1736. Bank ranking Since then, it has grown into a major global financial institution, being rated as the 10th largest in the world, according to a 2010 article in Forbes magazine. The company received no tax payer money following the credit crunch as it had a market value of £38.3 billion as of 01.02.2011. Lloyds TSB Lloyds bank was formed in 1765 and became Lloyds TSB in 1995 after merging with Trustee Savings Bank (TSB). The bank suffered heavily during the credit crunch. As of 01.02.2011, it was still 43 percent owned by the British tax payers.
In February 2011 it posted a market value of £44.3 billion. HSBC The Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Corporation was first started in Hong Kong, but set up its headquarters in London in 1991 and later took over Midland Bank in 1992. Bank ranking
It is the eight largest financial institution in the world according to Forbes magazine and has a market value of £12266.4 billion. RBS
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group was the hardest hit of the UK High Street banks during the credit crunch and as of 01.02.2011, it was still 84 percent government owned. It was first founded in 1727 and now operates across the world in all forms of financial services. As at 01.02.2011, it had a market value of £49.9 billion.

Other banks

Standard Chartered Standard Chartered is unique in this list as although it is a UK bank, the majority of its business comes from Africa, Asia and the Middle East. It was formed after the merger of the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China and the Standard Bank of British South Africa in 1969. Despite its small size compared to the other banks listed here it had a market value of £37.1 billion as at 01.02.2011.