| This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Commercial and retail banks in the United Kingdom template. |
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Identifying the Big Five[edit]
I agree that it is useful to identify the Big Five. However, I am not sure the scheme of using 'small caps' is very useful. It won't work on devices without a smallcaps font, such as a screen reader, but more importantly, HSBC doesn't stand out that way at all.
I have changed the HSBC link to HSBC Bank, to avoid visual confusion with the HSBC parent group article, and to allow small caps to work there.
However, a layout like ((UK supermarkets)) might be better:
| "Big Four" | |
|---|---|
| Major chains | |
| Discount chains | |
| Frozen foods | |
| Convenience stores | |
Thoughts?
-Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 09:52, 7 August 2008 (UTC)
- I'm not sure I'm keen on the "small caps" approach: maybe separate out the "big five" and rename the commercial banks section as "Other commercial". There is the issue of some of the others being owned by one of the "big five" (NatWest being the prime example, as well as the various bits of HBOS, etc.). It might also be worth noting that the article Big Five (banks) is about Canadian banks. --RFBailey (talk) 16:08, 7 August 2008 (UTC)
- Revisiting this template, I agree, so I've tried replacing the smallcaps with bold italics. (I first tried bold, then remembered this is what Wikipedia uses when a link points to the page it's on.) Does this work? Sardanaphalus (talk) 18:29, 8 August 2008 (UTC)
PS Big Five (banks) might be about Canadian banks, but the "Big Five" link here currently points to Big Four (banks). Maybe the former should be renamed "Big Five (Canadian banks)" and the latter "Big Five (UK banks)"?
Ownership[edit]
I've had a stab at redoing the template to address the following issues:
- Something which shows the (shared) ownership of the brands; and
- Need to distinguish between the "private banks" which are privately owned, and the "private banking" for rich folks.
There's still the paradox of having 7 big four banks. Either we emphasise the Groups which are "Big 4", or emphasise ALL their brands. The current halfway option makes little sense. Any thoughts?
| Commercial | |
|---|---|
| Private banks | Arbuthnot Latham & Co · Butterfield Private Bank · Harrods Bank · C. Hoare & Co · N M Rothschild & Sons · Raphaels Bank |
| State-owned UK Financial Investments Limited | |
The bank groups marked in pink indicate the UK's big four banks. | |
Bazj (talk) 23:00, 21 March 2009 (UTC)
Firming Up[edit]
I've undone the "firming up" because the resizing is inconsistent. The superscript following Sainsbury's Bank seems to prevent Lloyds group firming up to the same degree as the rest, leaving it with the appearance of being favoured over the other banking groups. Bazj (talk) 14:05, 9 July 2010 (UTC)
- Well, that certainly wasn't my intention, although now, having had a look, I can see your point. It's simply a side-effect of how Windows PCs interpret formatting (if you use Word, you'll notice exactly the same effect. Whilst there is a marginal additional spacing effect that you pointed out, it still makes the main template much closer and tighter-knit. I suggest it goes back, unless you can prove that the other is being over-emphasised. I might also point out that Sainsbury's Bank is not actually fully-owned by Lloyds Banking Group either, to be clear, which the template seems to suggest at the moment. It's only real competitor (Tesco Bank) is now fully-owned by Tesco. Does it deserve a line of its own??(109.224.134.102 (talk) 05:12, 14 July 2010 (UTC))
- You said I had over-emphasised LBG. So prove it. I only said I saw because there's a noticeable widening - like I pointed out. But that's to do with Windows. I should've gone further (this is a very broad template, can take up to half-a-page. But I won't. Prove that LBG was being given undue attention, and I would accept it. (109.224.134.102 (talk) 23:37, 14 July 2010 (UTC))
Missing banks[edit]
I was wondering if a bank like Triodos shouldn't be added to the template. They are a small bank (in the UK) but have a strong focus on lending to ethical / green businesses. --Gigoachef (talk) 12:21, 25 August 2010 (UTC)
- As no one objected, I've added Triodos to the template --Gigoachef (talk) 18:19, 28 February 2011 (UTC)