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Camelot Financial Services is a British multinational banking and financial services institution headquartered in London, England. It is a universal bank with operations in retail, wholesale and investment banking, as well as wealth management, mortgage lending and credit cards. The company has around 73 million customers with operations in over 80 countries and territories across Africa, Asia, The Middle East and South America. As of 31 December 1999 Camelot had total assets of UK£ 7.58 trillion (US$ 11.31 trillion), worldwide it is the largest bank.
Camelot is organized within these business clusters: Corporate and Investment Banking, Wealth and Investment Management; and Retail and Business Banking. The Corporate and Investment Banking, Wealth and Investment Management cluster comprises three business units: Corporate banking; Investment Banking; and Wealth and Investment Management. The Retail and Business Banking cluster comprises four business units: Africa Retail and Business Banking (including Ashkanar Group); Camelotcard (credit card and loan provision); Europe Retail and Business Banking; and UK Retail and Business Banking.
Camelot has a dual primary listing on the London Stock, Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Tadawal and is a constituent of the Hang Seng Index and the FTSE 100 Index. As of 5 August 2000 it had a market capitalization of UK£ 2.78 trillion (US$ 4.15 trillion), the largest company listed on any stock exchange. It has secondary listings on the New York Stock Exchange, and Euronext Paris.
History
1512 to 1712
Camelot Financial Services traces its origins back to the reign of the Tudor dynasty and the extravagant lifestyle of Henry VIII. Bruta Pendragon was the most wealthy landowner in all England, next to the king. Unlike those of wealth and nobility, he cared little for the intrigues of court and interacting with other nobles. He was a cautious man and kept busy attending his vast estate the family trade house business. In late 1511, the king, along with members of parliament arrived at his home to discuss yet another loan they sought from him, for preparations for war with France the following year. Bruta Pendragon, on the other hand, had had enough of loaning money out to the monarchy only to not see any of it returned. He insisted on being paid back every pound before, even discussing another loan. They left empty handed, but returned days later with deeds two gold mines that had belonged to the House Tudor for decades and a several goldsmithing business in London and several others around England, which had come into King Henry VII possession in 1505. Bruta accepted the terms of the deal and loaned the Crown £2,000,000 for England’s invasion of France in 1512 campaign. Bruta wanted to ensure that the money he lent to the crown was not wasted so he accompanied King Henry VIII on his campaign and left his son Aurelius Pendragon in charge.
Aurellius Pendragon like his father was a careful and meticulous young man, he spent three months inspecting each of the mines and the goldsmithing offices, before deciding on a course of action. He increased the workers at each mine by two hundred men, this allowed him to establish a baseline of for the mines output. He repeated the process at the goldsmithing offices and also hired scriveners, as well to add another side of the business. By the start of Spring 1512 both the mines and the goldsmithing business were turning out enormous profits. Aurelius also streamlined the business’ by integrating the goldsmithing portion of business into the family trading house business. Which sold the goods of other manufactures; they mainly specialized in the commodities market and later expanded to the textile markets as a profit diversifying measure.
This also gave the house trading customers the ability handle the financial side of things inside the trading house, it allowed transactions to be handled quicker and with less mistakes. Another reason Aurelius handled business this way was to also ensure that he had access to each parties accounts which gave him the ability to restrict access to their funds if one of the parties was in danger of defaulting. He also separated the company assets from the family assets wanting to make the family trading company more independent, by renaming the company, Camelot Trading Company in 1512.
When Bruta Pendrgon return by the end of the summer of 1514 it was to a very prosperous family business almost five times its original size before leaving a little over a year ago. He also returned as Duke Bruta Pendragon, that also came with a sizable portion of land that increased the families already considerable land holdings, in reward for actions at the Battle of the Spurs. The family business had changed so much that Bruta Pendragon had a difficult time understanding it's new mechanics, though the changes greatly impressed him, he was forced to mostly looked after the family personal holdings and manage it's lands, while Aurelius managed the growing business.
Camelot Trading Company, opened its first manufacturing facility in 1517 in the hopes of extending its reach in the manufacturing area of the industry. To facilitate a better organization between the buyers and sellers, Camelot opened in its first bank in 1530 and by 1535 would have over 20 banks, when Wales became part of England Camelot opened not only a bank in the same year but a trading house as well, seeking gain a strong foothold on the new county.
The company was also known for its practice of insuring merchant vessels, and their cargo. Though the company took a cautious stance in regard to determining which vessels they insured, using a policy of making certain that the value of the collateral put forth to stand in for the vessel and goods either matched or exceeded the value of the ship and its contents.
It was this practice that led Camelot to acquiring two ships in 1550, when a merchant lost his cargo off the coast of Ireland he used his two Argosy style ships to insure the ships and it's cargo. His gamble lost him the ships, with Camelot collecting The Red Dragon and The Falcon as collateral for the debt. The ships would serve as a basis for the companies venture into merchant sailing, which could not come at a better time since the crown began an initiative under the orders of Queen Elizabeth to begin trade relations in earnest in 1556. The crown summoned the heads of the four major trading companies to the palace in London, two of which being The East India Company and Camelot Trading Company.
The result of the meeting was a request for the companies to find a way to develop better trade relations between England and Ireland, the hope was to enhance diplomatic relations between the two countries in an effort for England to build allies, as tensions between England and Spain increased. Lord James Davenport, and Duke Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton accompanied, the now Duke Aurelius Pendragon, who had taken over title from his father who had died fifteen years prior, to the meeting.
The meetings outcome was a rivalry that began between the East India Company and Camelot Trading Company. At the close of the meeting saw the son of Aurelius Pendragon, Aeneas Pendragon setting sail for Ireland in 1560, taking not only The Red Dragon, but The Falcon as well. Unlike East India, Camelot did not use strong arm tactics to secure good relations with the people, but rather used a system of deceptive negotiations, and cunning manipulation. Which worked better than the East India tactics which failed for them, instead of outright earning the aggression of the people, Camelot deviously took over many of the business in transactions that seemed to benefit the people but in reality would hinder them. Thus Camelot was able to gain the trust of the people and also increase the company's holdings. The mission was considered successful in 1569, as Aeneas Pendragon returned to England with the Ireland representative accompanying him to be formally introduced to Queen Elizabeth I.
The success in Ireland saw Camelot Trading Company rise even higher in status, and also cemented Aeneas’s place as the head of Camelot Trading Company. The success of the Ireland mission also opened a market for the company. While the East India Companies failure in Ireland resulted in the displeasure of Queen Elizabeth I directed at them. As a result Camelot Trading was given a Royal Charter in September 7, 1592 to explore gaining a trade foothold in India. While the crown looked to India, Camelot not only saw India, but the true desire was China and the wealth it carried and to get there they had to open India first.
Now called the Honorable Camelot Trading Company, set its sights on opening India’s resources to England, with the defeat of the Spanish Armada England sought to increase her presence in the world. A total of six ship left London on January 22, 1593, (gifted to Camelot by the crown in its conquest of India), to be joined in six months by another three merchant ships from Camelot. With the charter came 250 knights, Alderman and Burgess with another 350 to follow on the arriving ships. England was committing vast resources to the success of this venture. under the name, Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading with the East Indies, for a period of ten years. This gave Camelot a total trade monopoly in countries east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan. The endeavor was more complex than the Ireland endeavor, proved more difficult by the fact that the East India Company had arrived ahead of Camelot Trading. Having already established ties with the India officials they and had turned the minds of the India officials against Camelot Trading, even before arriving. Angered by Camelot’s success in Ireland and their failure in the endeavor. The company sought to discredit Camelot and hopefully steal India out from under them, but the tactic would only lead to its downfall.
1712 to 1912
TBC