Dr Iain Frame

To date, Iain’s research has followed two connected paths. The first explores who created money, on what terms, and with what consequences in the context of late eighteenth century and nineteenth century England. “‘Country Rag Merchants’ and English Local Currencies in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century” (2015) considers the resilience of the bank notes issued by banking partnerships (so-called ‘country banks’) in the absence of Bank of England support. “Between the ‘Bank Screw’ and ‘Affording Assistance’: Rules, Standards, and the Bank Charter Act of 1844” (2020) turns to the consequences that followed from legislative restrictions on the ability of both the Bank of England and country banks to issue bank notes. “‘The greater perfection of banking facilities’: The Development of Deposit Banking in England in the Middle Third of the Nineteenth Century” (work in progress) explains the rise of deposit banking in the second half of the nineteenth century and identifies the privileged position held by commercial banks in relation to the state, a privileged positions that allows bank deposits to function as money.

Iain’s second research path takes this privileged position of commercial banks as its point of departure and asks: how do banks use their authority to create money and with what consequences? “The Ends and Means of Banking: The Royal Bank of Scotland After the 2008 Crisis” (2023) examines this question in relation to the UK government’s financial support for RBS in 2008 and RBS’s treatment of its small and medium sized business customers in the years after the financial crisis.

Iain has experience teaching banking law, company law, contract law, corporate governance, and tort law. At Dundee Law School, he is the module lead for the English Law of Equity & Trusts and the English Law of Obligations.

Iain is happy to supervise PhD or Masters students who wish to explore topics related to his research or teaching interests.