Corporate identity, company law and currency: a survey of community images on English bank notesBarnes, V. and Newton, L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1453-8824 (2022) Corporate identity, company law and currency: a survey of community images on English bank notes. Management & Organizational History, 17 (1-2). pp. 43-75. ISSN 1744-9367
It is advisable to refer to the publisher's version if you intend to cite from this work. See Guidance on citing. To link to this item DOI: 10.1080/17449359.2022.2078371 Abstract/SummaryFinancial instruments are the subject of considerable interest. The supply of promissory notes has attracted the attention of financial historians, political economists and antiquarians, alike. We consider bank notes as a mechanism building corporate identity. The article focuses on the bank notes that were issued in the early nineteenth century by newly established joint stock banks in the English provinces. Despite not having a legal personality, which could be separated from the bank’s owners, the banks did not use symbols of the owners, such as family crests or other personal means, to communicate their identity. The article shows that these notes displayed symbols of a collective culture and regional identity. We argue that this was crucial to building the bank’s position within the local commercial community and in generating a persona which customers could trust.
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