Barclays Bank changes its name to First National Bank

After protests against Barclays Bank's involvement in South Africa and its apartheid government, Barclays Bank (SA) announced its new name - First National Bank of Southern Africa (FNB) - a wholly South African owned and controlled entity. Sir Timothy Bevan, chairman of Barclays, admitted that while the decision to pull out of the South African market was a commercial one, the pressure exerted against the bank by anti-apartheid protesters had a detrimental effect on the bank's business in other areas. Student campaigns against Barclays Bank, initiated in the 1960s, was carried on year after year, especially at the beginning of every academic year, to persuade students not to open accounts with the bank.