Another and a distinctly important development is announced in the direction of British banking. It is only a few years since that English banks were charged with being insular and wanting in "Senturesomeness." That charge can certainly not be levelled to-day for the past few years has witnessed almost a whirlwind of banking fusions, while the latest aspect of banking activities has been the stretching out of the tentacles of English banks into concerns transacting business in almost every part of the world.
The announcement is made that subject to Treasury consent an agreement has been reached whereby if carried through, Barclay's Bank will acquire at least 50 per cent. of the shares of the Anglo-Egyptian Bank. This, so far as we are aware, ig the first instance of a direct alliance between an English joint-stock bank and an institution conducting operations in Egypt.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.