There have been two British Columbian/

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

s with the name Bank of British Columbia.

The first bank: 1862–1901

The first was established by

Royal Charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but s ...

in 1862, with its head office in London.
Historical Essays on British Columbia
'. McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP; 1980. . p. 174–. Between 1862 and 1871 it issued dollar

banknotes A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued ...

. By 1885 it had

branches A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term ''twig'' usually r ...

in San Francisco,British Columbia. Department of Agriculture.
Province of British Columbia, Canada: Its Climate and Resources; with Information for Emigrants ...
'. R. Wolfenden, Government Printer; 1883. p. 108–109.

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

(est. 1866),

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. The ...

(est. 1862) and

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capi ...

(est. 1862). In 1889 it established a branch in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. In 1901 it merged with the

Canadian Bank of Commerce The Canadian Bank of Commerce was a Canadian bank which was founded in 1867, and had hundreds of branches throughout Canada. It merged in 1961 with the Imperial Bank of Canada to form the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. History In 1866 a ...

.Geoffrey Jones.
British Multinational Banking, 1830–1990
'. Clarendon Press; 1995. . p. 404–. At the time of the merger it had branches in Vancouver (est. 1886), Victoria, Kamloops, Nanaimo,

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

, Rossland, Sandon, San Francisco, Portland, and London.

Banknotes

There remains $48,797 in outstanding banknotes from the bank of British Columbia, in $1, $5, $10, $20 and $50 denominations. The bills were issued from 1863 to 1894 and in the 1970s they brought anywhere from $500 to $1,500 per bill on the collector's market.

Architecture

The Bank of British Columbia in

was built in 1885 and was designated as a heritage site by the City of Victoria in 1975. The Bank of British Columbia in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...

, was built in 1889 to 1891 and was added to Vancouver's Community Heritage Register in 1986.

The second bank: 1966–1986

The second bank was chartered in 1966 with headquarters in Vancouver and was the creation of

W.A.C. Bennett William Andrew Cecil Bennett (September 6, 1900 – February 23, 1979) was a Canadian politician. He was the 25th premier of British Columbia from 1952 to 1972. With just over 20 years in office, Bennett was and remains the longest-serving prem ...

, the

Premier of British Columbia Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

. Bennett, a businessman, wanted to end Central Canada's control over the banking industry which obliged all but the smaller loans for companies in British Columbia to receive authorization from head offices in either

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

. In 1986, the bank had 1,410 employees, 41 branches in BC and

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, and offices in the Cayman Islands, the US, and Hong Kong. Assets in 1986 were

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...

$2.7 billion, which put the bank 27th among banks and financial institutions in Canada. Revenue in 1986 was $324 million. Following financial difficulties arising from the decline of the western oil economy, the collapses of

Canadian Commercial Bank The Canadian Commercial Bank (CCB) was a bank based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada which failed in 1985. It received its parliamentary charter in 1975 and established its head office in Edmonton. The bank was privately owned and operated as a who ...

and

Northland Bank The Northland Bank was an Alberta-based Canadian bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed ...

had a serious impact on other institutions that depended on wholesale deposit funding. Like the many Trust Companies and Credit Union amalgamations in 1986, the

Canadian government The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-in ...

permitted the Hongkong Bank of Canada (HSBC) to rescue it.

Patricia Chisholm Patricia is a female given name of Latin origin. Derived from the Latin word '' patrician'', meaning "noble"; it is the feminine form of the masculine given name Patrick. The name Patricia was the second most common female name in the United Stat ...

, End of a dream for Bank of B.C. ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

of Canada'', December 1, 1986, pp. 8, 59. By stepping in, HSBC acquired a large base of stable retail deposits. The acquisition immediately raised HSBC's ranking amongst Canadian banks from the 20th to the 9th largest.

Citations

References