In addition to its own specialist manufacturing role, Birmingham retained its position as the commercial and mercantile centre for an integrated regional economy that included the more basic manufacturing and raw material production areas of Staffordshire and Worcestershire. The demand for capital to feed rapid economic expansion saw the town become a major financial centre with extensive international connections. During the early 18th century finance was largely provided by the iron merchants and by extensive systems of trade credit between manufacturers; it was an iron merchant Sampson Lloyd and major manufacturer John Taylor who combined to form the town's first bank – the early Lloyds Bank – in 1765. Further establishments followed and by 1800 the West Midlands had more banking offices per head than any other region in Britain, including London. Birmingham's booming economy gave the town a growing professional sector, with the number of physicians and lawyers increasing by 25% between 1767 and 1788. It has been estimated that between a quarter and a third of Birmingham's inhabitants could be thought of as middle class in the last quarter of the 18th century and this fuelled a large growth in the demand for tailors, mercers and drapers. Trade directories reveal that there more drapers than edge tool makers in 1767, and insurance records from 1777 to 1786 suggest that well over half of local businesses were engaged in the trading or service sectors rather than directly in industry.