Avoiding toxic assets and ensuring bank stability: English commercial bank investments, 1880–1910

Review of periodical literature published in 2009

“…Readers inspired by recent events to explore the history of banking were spoilt for choice, with banks across the UK featuring in several studies. Baker et al. explore the portfolio management of English commercial banks between 1880 and 1910 and find a conservative approach to investment—mirroring their lending policies—which restricted the financing of the private sector, but which aided bank stability. Conversely, innovation is presented as the defining characteristic of Scottish savings banks in an article by Maixé‐Altés.…”

Capital Market Development Over the Long Run: The Portfolios of UK Life Assurers Over Two Centuries

“…This paper also adds to the burgeoning literature on historical asset management practices (Rutterford and Hannah, 2016;Morecroft, 2017;Morecroft and Turnbull, 2019). This literature includes studies of the asset management practices of life assurance companies in other countries such as Australia (Keneley, 2006(Keneley, , 2012, Denmark, France, (West) Germany and the Netherlands (Bennet et al, 1984); research on the investment practices of banks (Baker et al, 2009); research on pension funds (Avrahampour, 2015); studies on the investment practices of investment trusts (Huston, 1985;Rutterford, 2009;Chambers and Esteves, 2014;Rutterford andSotriopoulous, 2016, 2017;Sotiropoulous et al, 2019); and research on the asset management style developed by influential figures such as John Maynard Keynes (Chambers and Dimson, 2013;Chambers et al, 2015).…”