Barclays traces its origins back to 1690 when John Freame, a Quaker, and Thomas Gould started trading as goldsmith bankers in Lombard Street, London. The name "Barclays" became associated with the business in 1736, when James Barclay, the son-in-law of John Freame, one of the founders, became a partner in the business. In 1728 the bank moved to 54 Lombard Street, identified by the 'Sign of the Black Spread Eagle', which in subsequent years would become a core part of the bank's visual identity. Much of the wealth of the Barclay family was founded on the slave trade: David and Alexander Barclay were engaged in the slave trade in 1756; David Barclay owned a great plantation in Jamaica, later freeing his slaves and coming to appreciate their equivalence to whites. In 1776 the firm was styled "Barclay, Bevan and Bening" and so remained until 1785, when another partner, John Tritton, who had married a Barclay, was admitted, and the business then became "Barclay, Bevan, Bening and Tritton"…
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia was founded by the Commonwealth Bank Act on 22 December 1911, introduced by the Andrew Fisher Labor Government, which favored bank nationalization. In a rare move for the time, the bank was to have both savings and general bank business. The bank was also the first bank in Australia to receive a Federal Government guarantee. The bank's earliest and most strenuous proponent was the flamboyant American-Australian Labor politician, King O'Malley, and its first Governor was Sir Denison Miller. The bank opened its first branch in Melbourne on 15 July 1912. In an agreement with Australia Post that exists to this day, the bank also traded through post office agencies. In 1912, it merged with the state savings bank in Tasmania, and by 1913 it had branches in all six states.
Presently, The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Fiji, Asia, the United States and the United Kingdom. Commonly…
National Australia Bank was formed as National Commercial Banking Corporation of Australia Limited in 1982 by the merger of National Bank of Australasia and the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney. The resulting company was subsequently renamed National Australia Bank Limited. The expanded financial base of the merged entity triggered significant offshore expansion over ensuing years. Representative offices were established in Beijing (1982), Chicago (branch 1982), Dallas (1983), Seoul (1983, upgraded to a branch in 1990), San Francisco (1984), Kuala Lumpur (1984), Athens (1984, closed 1989), Frankfurt (1985, closed 1992), Atlanta (1986), Bangkok (1986), Taipei (1986 upgraded to branch 1990), Shanghai (1988, closed 1990), Houston (1989) and New Delhi (1989). In 1987, NAB bought Clydesdale Bank (Scotland) and Northern Bank (Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland) from Midland Bank. It re-branded Northern Bank branches in the Republic of Ireland to National Irish Bank and changed both…
BBK, formerly known as The Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait B.S.C, was established on 16th March 1971 in accordance with the Amiri decree and started operations a year later. BBK has been the pioneer in Commercial Banking for 41 years in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
In 1972, they began operations with a capital of BD 1 million (US$ 2.5 million). Today, it has grown to become one of the largest commercial banks in the Kingdom of Bahrain, with a capital base of BD. 303.9 million (US$ 806 million). They have succeeded in building a name and reputation, respected locally as well as internationally. They have a strong local presence with a nationwide network of Financial Malls, branches and ATMs. In addition to domestic branches, they have operations in the State of Kuwait, the Republic of India and through a representative office of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. As a market leader, in 2006 they conceived the revolutionary 'Financial Mall' concept, housing partners such as CrediMax credit cards,…
Introducing Bangladesh to its very first private sector bank, AB Bank Limited was incorporated on 31st December, 1981. Arab Bangladesh Bank as formerly known started its effective operation from 12th April, 1982 with the mission to be the best performing bank of the country.
With an ambition to secure its place as the leading service provider, creating lasting value for its clientele, shareholder, and employees and particularly for the community it operates in, AB has formulated a golden heritage and an envious legacy that may not be imitated by many. Achieving plenty of milestones and incorporating numerous changes over the last 35 years, AB has always been authentic to its desire of being the technology driven innovative bank of Bangladesh. To excel this new era of technological triumph, AB has successfully introduced internet banking, SMS banking, cutting edge ICT, state-of-art network solution, 24/7 ATM service and many other e-products. AB has extensively widened its services…
Société Belge de Banque established the Comptoir Diamantaire Anversois in 1934, in partnership with Banque Transatlantique, Société Internationale Forestière et Minière du Congo (Forminière ), and the De Beers Group. The company was the first financial institution to focus solely and entirely on the needs of the diamond industry; it opened its registered office in the very heart of Antwerp's diamond district.
In 1937, Belgium passed bank reform legislation that allowed the Comptoir Diamantaire Anversois to become a bank. At this point the Comptoir changed its name to Antwerp Diamond Bank (ADB) . It also took the opportunity to double its equity base to BEF60 million (approximately 1.5 million euros) by bringing in Kredietbank and Compagnie Financière et Industrielle (Confindus)-Banque de Bruxelles as shareholders. In 1999, KBC Bank acquired the shares in ADB that Generale Bank (which had merged with Société Belge de Banque in 1965), and Banque Bruxelles Lambert (the result of the…
The bank was incorporated by the Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia on March 30, 1832, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with William Lawson (1772–1848) serving as the first president. ScotiaBank was founded in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1832 under the name of The Bank of Nova Scotia. The bank intended to facilitate the trans-Atlantic trade of the time. Later, in 1883, The Bank of Nova Scotia acquired the Union Bank of Prince Edward Island, although most of the bank's expansion efforts in the century took the form of branch openings.
The bank launched its branch banking system by opening in Windsor, Nova Scotia. The expansion was limited to the Maritimes until 1882, when the bank moved west by opening a branch in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Manitoba branch later closed but the bank continued to expand into the American Midwest. This included opening a branch in Minneapolis in 1885 which later transferred to Chicago in 1892. Following the collapse of the Commercial Bank of Newfoundland and Union…
Generally considered the largest bank and public company in the world by assets, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (ICBC) is a Chinese multinational banking company, it is the largest bank in the world by total assets and the most valuable bank in the world by market capitalization as of February 2017. It is one of China's "Big Four" state-owned commercial banks (the other three being the Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, and China Construction Bank). It was founded as a limited company on January 1, 1984. As of June 2015, it had assets worth US$3.616 trillion. It ranks number 1 in The Banker's Top 1000 World Banks ranking, and first on the Forbes Global 2000 list of the world's biggest public companies. On September 24, 2014, ICBC Kuwait Branch officially opened in Kuwait City, capital of Kuwait. As the first and currently the only Chinese bank in Kuwait, the establishment of ICBC Kuwait Branch ended the history of no Chinese bank’s presence in Kuwait…
BNP Paribas was formed through the merger of Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) and Paribas in 2000. The company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. Its Corporate & Institutional Banking and International Financial Services businesses for corporate and institutional clients are leaders in Europe, significant players in the Americas and growing strongly in the Asia-Pacific region.
Today, BNP Paribas is an international banking group with a presence in 75 countries. It is listed on the First Market of Euronext Paris and is included in the CAC 40 index. At 31 December 2016, net income attributable to equity holders was EUR7,702 million. BNP Paribas is one of the largest banks in the world. The bank serves more than 30 million customers between its retail banking networks in its four domestic markets, France, Belgium, Italy and Luxembourg, through several brands such as BNL, BGL BNP Paribas or BNP Paribas Fortis. The retail bank also operates in the Mediterranean region…
Deutsche Bank was founded in Berlin in 1870 as a specialist bank for foreign trade. The bank's statute was adopted on 22 January 1870, and on 10 March 1870 the Prussian government granted it a banking licence. The statute laid great stress on foreign business: The object of the company is to transact banking business of all kinds, in particular to promote and facilitate trade relations between Germany, other European countries and overseas markets. One of the three founders were George Siemens whose father's cousin had founded Siemens and Halske, Adelbert Delbrück and L. Bamberger. Previous to the founding of Deutsche Bank, German importers and exporters were dependent upon English and French banking institutions in the world markets, a serious handicap in that German bills were almost unknown in international commerce, generally disliked and subject to a higher rate of discount than English or French bills.
Presently, Deutsche Bank AG is a German global banking and financial services…