The Bank of England, industrial regeneration, and hire purchase between the wars

SUE BOWDEN and MICHAEL COLLINS. The Bank of England, industrial regeneration, and hire purchase between the wars. The article uses new material to analyse the nature of the Bank of England's financial and managerial involvement with one of the UK's leading finance houses (UDT) during the interwar period. It is shown that the Bank's involvement was perceived as part of its more general strategy for revitalizing the British economy. However, research reveals serious ambiguity in Bank of England motivation. In particular, there was a strong defensive element, as Montagu Norman sought to counter the threat of political intervention in financial markets. He was also anxious not to upset existing institutional arrangements in the markets. In the event, the extraordinary support given to the nascent hire-purchase market did not succeed in stimulating much business in the chosen area of small-scale industrial investment.