Bank praised by UK PM Johnson had slavery links

A UK private bank praised by Boris Johnson is facing scrutiny over its historical links to the slave trade after two other big British businesses pledged to pay reparations for their role.

Alfred Latham and John Alves Arbuthnot co-founded Arbuthnot Latham in 1833, a private bank in the City of London that specialises in managing money for wealthy.

When slavery was abolished in parts of the British empire earlier the same year, Latham was compensated for giving up ownership of 402 enslaved people, according to an academic database tracking British involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. He received £3,873, roughly equivalent to £370,000 in 2020 terms.

The Arbuthnot family is also on the database, compiled by the University College London's Legacies of British slave ownership project. Latham went on to become governor of the Bank of England.

Arbuthnot Latham is now run by the chairman and chief executive Sir Henry Angest, who has donated millions of pounds to the Conservative party personally or through his companies.

In 2013, when he was the mayor of London, Johnson wrote that he had "no hesitation" in recommending a history of the bank. In a foreword published on the bank's website, Johnson was fulsome in his praise for the bank.

He wrote: "The story of London's rise to global eminence is in many ways the story of Arbuthnot Latham - a bank founded in 1833, and which financed everything from coffee plantations in Ceylon to gold mining in South Africa to banana growers in Jamaica."

He added: "I am delighted to say that 180 years later, the bank is not only alive but flourishing, proof of the resilience of financial services in London. We will always need bankers with drive and imagination - not just to finance banana growing, but the infrastructure we need, the medical and scientific breakthroughs that will improve the fate of our species."

Two other companies with links to slavery highlighted by the UCL database on Wednesday pledged to pay reparations for the role played by former slave owners in their past.

The pubs group Greene King and insurer Lloyd's of London said they would make contributions to charities . Their intention to pay reparations was first reported by the Daily Telegraph.

Greene King was founded in 1799 by Benjamin Greene in Bury St Edmunds. The UCL data shows he held at least 231 people in slavery and was an enthusiastic supporter of the practice.