History of the British national debt History of the British national debt The history of the British national debt can be traced back to the reign of William III, who engaged a syndicate of City traders and merchants to offer for sale an issue of government debt, which evolved into the Bank of England. In 1815, at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, British government debt reached a peak of £1 billion (that was more than 200% of GDP). At the beginning of the 20th century the national debt had been gradually reduced to around 30 percent of GDP. However, during World War I the British
Bank of New England has continued to exist to pay out claims against the company. As of 2016, most of what was once Bank of New England is now part of Bank of America. The Bank of New England Corporation was formed as the first interstate regional bank in the United States in 1985 as a result of a merger between the (old) Bank of New England Corporation and CBT Corporation. CBT was the parent of Connecticut Bank and Trust Company, which traced its roots to the Union Bank of New London (founded in 1792), as well as the Connecticut Trust and Safe Deposit