The British Overseas Banks and Development Finance in Africa after 1945

The role of the British overseas banks in the provision of medium- and long-term finance in British colonial Africa is examined, with special reference to the establishment of the bank development corporations after the Second World War. The origins of the banks' involvement in development financing are traced, and in particular those of the Barclays Overseas Development Corporation, the first in the field. It is argued that, although their performance was modest, at least it was not as disastrous as the initial performance of the public sector Colonial Development Corporation. The three bank development corporations, and the medium- and long-term lending undertaken by the fourth British bank operating in British colonial Africa, filled a necessary gap in the financial structure of these territories at a time when the British banks were often the only commercial banks in existence.