The Mercantile Bank of India, London and China, later Mercantile Bank Ltd (), was an Anglo-Indian bank with business focus in the Far East. It was founded in Bombay in 1853 as the Mercantile Bank of Bombay; and later in 1857 was renamed to Mercantile Bank of India, London, and China with London as its headquarters. By 1959, through a series of mergers and divisions, its name had been shortened to 'Mercantile Bank, Ltd', and was acquired by HSBC the same year. The bank was an issuer of Hong Kong bank notes until 1974.

History

Early years : 1853–1900

The historic bank started life in October 1853 as the Mercantile Bank of Bombay, taking the name of the city, Bombay, where it was founded. It expanded its operations to the Far East in November 1854 with the opening of an office in Shanghai. In 1857, the bank was granted a royal charter, and it established a presence in Hong Kong. The name was late changed to the Mercantile Bank of India, London and China, and it moved its headquarters to London in 1858. It competed with the other great British banks of those times, such as the Oriental Bank Corporation,

Hongkong and Shanghai Bank The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (), commonly known as HSBC (), was the parent entity of the multinational HSBC banking group until 1991, and is now its Hong Kong-based Asia-Pacific subsidiary. The largest bank in Hong ...

and Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China; involved in trade between India and China and other British possessions

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. By 1860, its total assets reached the amount of US$21.7 million, a medium-sized bank by the standards of that time - a comparison shows that one of the leading Anglo-Indian banks, the Oriental Bank Corporation was about three times larger in terms of total assets. With the opening of the

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in 1869; and completion of

Indo-European telegraph line Siemens Communications was the communications and information business arm of German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG, until 2006. It was the largest division of Siemens, and had two business units – Mobile Networks and Fixed Networks; and En ...

Page 32 , The Rise of India:
Its Transformation from Poverty to Prosperity by Niranjan Rajadhyaksha
/ref>
by Steven Roberts from London to Calcutta, and its extension to China in 1871;The foreign banks in China, Part I - (1850-1900)
''The Opening of China to the Outside World'' by John E. Sandrock most British banks (including Mercantile bank) were well placed to expand and develop its business. The bank expanded its presence with branches across India, the

Straits Settlements The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore for more than a century, it was originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Comp ...

and

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, and in Hong Kong and Shanghai. It issued banknotes in

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

, Singapore and Hong Kong. It became the issuer of

Hong Kong banknotes The issue of banknotes of the Hong Kong dollar is governed in the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the governmental currency board of Hong Kong. Under licence from the HKMA, three commercial ...

for the first time from 1859 to 1892.World Paper Money Catalog and History - Hongkong Dollar
/ref>Collection of Historical banknotes - Hong Kong, Shanghai, China
Trouble in 1893 meant it lost its

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

, and was reconstituted as the Mercantile Bank of India Ltd.

Transition years : 1900–1959

There was a re-consolidation of its operations at the beginning of the 20th century; and in 1912 it again became an issuer of Hong Kong banknotes, a privilege it retained until 1974. During the Second World War, the Mercantile Bank had to close down several offices in the Far East, but it managed to re-open its offices after the war. The Hong Kong office re-opened in February 1946 and the Shanghai office in 1945, but was closed down its Shanghai operations in 1952 due to the Communist party rule.255, Chapter , A History of Modern Shanghai Banking. The Rise and Decline of China Finance Capitalism Armonk, New York, London, M. E. Sharpe, 2003, 325 p
/ref> In 1952, total assets of the bank totalled US$205.5 million.

Amalgamation into HSBC and divestment : 1959–1987

The bank was acquired in 1959 by The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. By then its name had been shortened again, to the Mercantile Bank Ltd. The former office in Bombay now houses the HSBC Group's Head Office in India. The Mercantile Bank continued to issue Hong Kong banknotes until the early 1970s. The signing of the historic Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984, provided HSBC added impetus to expand overseas and sold the entity - Mercantile Bank, Ltd to

Citibank Citibank, N. A. (N. A. stands for " National Association") is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City ...

the same year as part of its consolidation strategy. It was eventually sold to the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd. in 1987. Not to be confused wit
Bombay Mercantile Bank
which a is Co-operative bank.

References

{{Banking in India Defunct banks of India Defunct banks of Hong Kong Defunct banks of the United Kingdom HSBC acquisitions Banks established in 1853 Former banknote issuers of Hong Kong British overseas banks Indian companies established in 1853

History

Early years : 1853–1900

Transition years : 1900–1959

Amalgamation into HSBC and divestment : 1959–1987

See also

References