The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland was the central bank of the Kingdom of Scotland, and is today a major commercial bank in Scotland, and, to a lesser extent, in the rest of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Since 10 September 2001 it has formed part of HBOS plc, following its merger with the UK's Halifax Group (formerly the Halifax Building Society).

The Bank of Scotland was established by an act of the Parliament of Scotland on 17 July 1695, opening for business in February 1696. The founding act permitted the bank's directors to raise a nominal capital of £1,200,000 Pound Scots (£100,000 Pound Sterling), granted the bank a monopoly on banking in Scotland for 21 years, gave the Proprietors (shareholders) limited liability, and the final clause (repealed only in 1920) made all foreign-born Proprietors naturalised Scotsmen "to all Intents and Purposes whatsoever".

The Bank of Scotland was the first bank in Europe to successfully issue paper currency redeemable for cash on demand (which was an extremely useful facility given the poor state of the Scottish coinage at the end of the seventeenth century). The right to issue banknotes has been maintained to the present day. Following the Union of Scotland and England in 1707, the bank supervised the reminting of the old Scottish coinage into Sterling.

The bank took the lead in establishing the security and stability of the entire Scottish banking system, which became more important after the collapse of the Ayr Bank in 1772. The Western Bank collapsed in 1857, and the Bank of Scotland stepped in with the other Scottish banks to ensure that all Western Bank's notes were paid.

In 1826 there was outrage in Scotland at the attempt of the United Kingdom Parliament to prevent the production of banknotes of less than five pounds face value. Sir Walter Scott wrote a series of letters to the Edinburgh Weekly Journal under the pseudonym "Malachi Malagrowther" which provoked such a response that the government was forced to relent and allow the Scottish banks to continue printing £1 notes. For this reason Sir Walter still appears on all Bank of Scotland notes.

In 1959 Bank of Scotland became the first British bank to install a computer to process accounts centrally.

By the 1990s the Bank of Scotland was the result of a large number of amalgamations, the most important being with the Union Bank of Scotland in 1955, and the British Linen Bank in 1971. In 2001 the Bank agreed a merger with Halifax Group to produce one of the UK's largest clearing banks, HBOS. Bank of Scotland also acquired ICC Bank in the Republic of Ireland later that same year, and has since relaunched its Irish business as Bank of Scotland (Ireland).

• 1. John Holland 1696-1697
• 2. David Melville, 3rd Earl of Leven 1697-1728
• 3. Alexander Hume, 2nd Earl of Marchmont 1728-1740
• 4. Charles Hope, 1st Earl of Hopetoun 1740-1742
• 5. Colonel John Stratton 1742
• 6. John Hay, 4th Marquess of Tweeddale 1742-1762
• 7. Hugh Hume, 3rd Earl of Marchmont 1763-1790
• 8. Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville 1790-1811
• 9. Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Meville 1812-1851
• 10. James Alexander, 10th Earl of Dalhousie 1851-1860
• 11. John Campbell, 2nd Marquess of Breadalbane 1861-1862
• 12. George Hamilton-Baillie, 11th Earl of Haddington 1863-1870
• 13. John Hamilton Dalrymple, 10th Earl of Stair 1870-1903
• 14. Alexander Hugh Bruce, 6th Baron Balfour of Burleigh 1904-1921
• 15. William John Mure 1921-1924
• 16. Sidney Herbert, 16th Baron Elphinstone 1924-1955
• 17. Sir John Craig 1955-1957
• 18. Steven Bilsland, 1st Baron Bilsland 1957-1966
• 19. Henry Alexander Hepburne-Scott, 10th Lord Polwarth 1966-1972
• 20. Ronald John Bilsland Colville, 2nd Baron Clydesmuir 1972-1981
• 21. Sir Thomas Neilson Risk 1981-1991
• 22. Sir Bruce Patullo 1991-1998
• 23. Sir Alistair Grant 1998-1999
• 24. Sir John Shaw 1999-2001
• 25. Sir Peter Burt 2001-2003
• 26. George Mitchell 2003- retiring January 2006

• British banknotes
• List of banks

• Bank of Scotland