Crédit Agricole can trace its history back to the end of the 19th Century, and specifically to the Act of 1884 establishing the freedom of professional association, which authorised, among other things, the creation of farm unions and the foundation of local mutual banks. Société de Crédit Agricole was created on 23 February 1885 at Salins-les-Bains in the district of Poligny in the Jura region. It was the first of its kind in France. Drawing on this experience and in an effort to promote lending to small family farms, the Act of 5 November 1894, which had the support of Minister for Agriculture Jules Méline, paved the way for the creation of Crédit Agricole’s Local Banks. The first Local Banks were set up by local elites, including agronomists, teachers and property owners, with farmers playing a minority role. In the early years, business was made up exclusively of short-term loans provided as advances on harvests, enabling farmers to live more comfortably. Medium-term and long-term…
SMBC was formed by the merger of The Sumitomo Bank and Sakura Bank in April 2001. Sumitomo Bank was a major Japanese bank founded in 1895; Sakura Bank was a descendant of Mitsui Bank, another major Japanese bank founded in 1876, but with operations dating back to 1683, when the Tokugawa Shogunate granted Mitsui Takatoshi permission to act as a money changer.
In April 2001, Sakura Bank and Sumitomo Bank merge to form Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. (Capital stock: ¥1,276,7 billion). Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) establishes a holding company named Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG) through a share transfer, SMBC becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of SMFG in December 2002 and witnessed Wakashio Bank (established June 1996) merge with SMBC in the end of 1st quarter next year.
On July 2008, Sumitomo Mitsui buys a 2.1 per cent stake in Barclays Bank for £500m. In the beginning of 2nd quarter, a group of criminal hackers including Hugh Rodley, security insider…
The history of Mizuho Financial Group (Mizuho) dates back to 1873 with the establishment of the Dai-ichi Bank, the first national bank in Japan. Mizuho itself was formed in 2000 from the merger of three of Japan’s largest and most established banks, the Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank (DKB), Fuji Bank and the Industrial Bank of Japan (‘IBJ’). The diverse activities have now been integrated under ‘One Mizuho’ to create a global powerhouse. The history informs our present thinking, which values mutually beneficial long-term relationships and steady and sustainable growth. We recognize that in order to service our global client base, we need to continue to expand our presence in the world’s major markets. Our strategy is simple. EMEA is a key part of the bank’s global ambitions. We have been an active participant in the European market since 1952 and have continued to grow our presence ever since, with a network of 20 offices spread throughout the region. Having the balance sheet and credit rating…
It was established in 1966 under the name China Securities and Investment Corporation. In 1971, its name was changed to Chinatrust Investment Company Limited. In 1992, it was transformed into Chinatrust Commercial Bank. Up until 2009, the chairman of the company was Luo Lian-fu. He was succeeded in July 2009 by Michael (Mike) Bernard DeNoma, the first foreigner to take up the role. The bank has subsidiaries in the Philippines, the United States, Canada, and Indonesia, foreign branch offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, India, Japan and Vietnam, and foreign representative offices in London, Bangkok, Hanoi, Beijing, Manila, and Los Angeles. CTBC Bank was awarded by international professional agencies as Best Bank in Taiwan in Asiamoney and The Asset magazines.
In the area of corporate banking, CTBC Bank was recognized by Global Finance and Asiamoney as the Best Foreign Exchange Bank in Taiwan, while Global Finance, The Asset, The Asian Banker, The Corporate Treasurer, and Global Trade…
Mitsubishi Bank was founded in 1880 by a former samurai, Iwasaki Yatarō, and was a core member of the Mitsubishi Group of companies. It merged with The Bank of Tokyo in 1996 to form The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd., which at that point was the world's largest bank in terms of total assets. In 1998, upon merger of the then second and third largest Swiss banks, Union Bank of Switzerland and Swiss Bank Corporation, the newly created UBS AG became the second largest in the world at the time, behind only the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi. The Bank of Tokyo had historically focused on foreign exchange business since its foundation as the Yokohama Specie Bank in 1880, while Mitsubishi had had a stronger focus on domestic corporate and retail banking. Both banks were relatively healthy in the wake of the Japanese asset price bubble. Until the Tokyo-Mitsubishi merger took place in 1996, Sanwa Bank, which was based in Osaka and was the anchor of the Sanwa Group keiretsu, had been considered the…
Bank of Ceylon (BoC) was founded in 1939, with Sir Ernest de Silva as its first chairman. At the time, Ceylon was a British colony and the then governor Sir Andrew Caldecott ceremoniously opened the bank on 1 August. The English government introduced the banking arm for its government-oriented businesses. Two years later, in 1941, BoC started to expand beyond the city of Colombo. It opened its first branch in Kandy. Subsequently BoC added branches in major cities such as Galle, Jaffna, Kurunegala, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Badulla, and Panadura.
The saga of Bank of Ceylon (BOC) began on 1st of August 1939 under Bank of Ceylon Ordinance No. 53 of 1938, the Governor of Ceylon, Sir Andrew Caldecott, declared open the maiden office of Sri Lanka’s first state-owned commercial bank in Fort, Colombo. BOC is a licensed commercial bank established under the Banking Act No. 30 of 1988. As Bankers to the Nation, BOC reached out to all citizens of the country through its largest network over 627…
"The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank" was founded by Scotsman Sir Thomas Sutherland in the then British colony of Hong Kong on 3 March 1865, and in Shanghai a month later, benefiting from the start of trading into China, including opium trading. It was formally incorporated as "The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation" by an Ordinance of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong on 14 August 1866. In 1980, HSBC acquired a 51% shareholding in US-based Marine Midland Bank, which it extended to full ownership in 1987. On 6 October 1989, it was renamed by the Legislative Council, by an amendment to its governing ordinance originally made in 1929, "The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited", and became registered as a regulated bank with the then Banking Commissioner of the Government of Hong Kong. "HSBC Holdings plc", originally incorporated in England and Wales, in the United Kingdom, as "Vernat Trading Company Limited" on 1 January 1959 and then renamed "Vernat Eastern Agencies…
Established in Sydney in 1817, the Bank of New South Wales (BNSW) was the first bank in Australia. Edward Smith Hall was its first cashier and secretary. During the 19th and early 20th century, the Bank opened branches first throughout Australia and Oceania, at Moreton Bay (Brisbane) in 1850, then in Victoria (1851), New Zealand (1861), South Australia (1877), Western Australia (1883), Fiji (1901), Papua New Guinea (1910) and Tasmania (1910). In 1982, BNSW merged with the Commercial Bank of Australia and changed their name to Westpac Banking Corporation. WBC was framed with the mission to become a significant Western-Pacific bank from which the Westpac portmanteau is derived. The brand name incorporated the "W" which had been the logo of the Bank of New South Wales (popularly known as "the Wales"). Today, Westpac Banking Corporation, more commonly known as Westpac, is an Australian bank and financial-services provider headquartered in Westpac Place, Sydney. It is one of Australia's…
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…
The FirstRand Group's history traces back to the 1970s as an investment bank. The Group as currently is was established on April 1, 1998, through a merger of the financial services interests of Anglo American Corporation of South Africa Limited (now Anglo American plc) and RMB Holdings (RMBH) in order to achieve the objective of a unified financial services grouping. These financial services interests were First National Bank Holdings ("FNB"), Momentum Life Assurers Limited ("Momentum" now part of MMI Holdings) and the Southern Life Association Limited ("Southern Life") all of which were listed on the JSE. FNB and Southern Life were delisted from the JSE and constituted as wholly owned subsidiaries of Momentum which was the vehicle to effect the merger. Momentum changed its name to FirstRand Limited and was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on May 25, 1998 with Anglo American and RMB Holdings holding 20.43% and 25.03% of the authorized capital of FirstRand respectively. Anglo…