Access is a former creit card introduced in Great Britain in 1972 by a consortium of National Westminster Bank, Midland Bank (now HSBC), Lloyds Bank (now Lloyds TSB) and The Royal Bank of Scotland, as a rival to the established Barclaycard. It was also issued in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland by Ulster Bank, a subsidiary of NatWest, Northern Bank, then a subsidiary of Midland, and Bank of Ireland which was unconnected to the founder banks. The card scheme was run from Southend-on-Sea in Essex, by the Joint Credit Card Company Limited.