| | Break the bank - Financial Director (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-25) |
 | | None of the major banks had to worry about a hostile takeover, so the mythology ran, for the Bank of England was there to ensure their invulnerability. |
 | | It was a blow from which the bank never recovered, and one that triggered a bid from HSBC which, at that time, was eager to domicile itself in the UK and thus enjoy the regulatory supervision of the Bank of England ahead of the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China. |
 | | The bank came under siege by enraged shareholders who interpreted the bid as a pointless and value-destroying operation, and that was the signal that triggered the opportunistic raid by the still independent Bank of Scotland, followed by a rival offer from Royal Bank of Scotland, which eventually won the day. |
| www.financialdirector.co.uk /features/1140075 (2599 words) |