Barclays Bank has operated as a

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and ...

and

commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution which accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make profit. It can also refer to a bank, or a division of a large bank, which deals with co ...

in Canada from 1929 to 1956, from 1979 to 1996, and most recently from 2010.

Previous operations

Barclays Bank (Canada)

Barclays Bank (Canada) Limited was incorporated in

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 ...

, Quebec in 1929, as a joint venture between

Barclays Bank Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

Limited and Barclays Bank (Dominion, Colonial and Overseas). An office was later established in

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 ...

. Like the other Canadian chartered banks, it issued its own banknotes. The Bank of Canada was established through the Bank of Canada Act of 1934 and the banks relinquished their right to issue their own currency. In 1956, Barclays Bank (Canada) was acquired by

Imperial Bank of Canada The Imperial Bank of Canada was a Canadian bank based in Toronto, Ontario, during the late 19th century and early 20th century. History It was founded in 1873 as the Imperial Bank in Toronto by Henry Stark Howland, former vice president of the C ...

, a predecessor of the

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC; french: Banque canadienne impériale de commerce) is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered at CIBC Square in the Financial District of Toronto, Ontario. ...

, for 10% of the capital of Imperial. H.A. Stevenson was President of the Bank from at least 1935 until 1950; his signature appears on one of the last currency issues by Barclays Bank (Canada) and he is quoted speaking at an annual general meeting of the bank in 1950.

Barclays Bank of Canada

The holding company, Barclays Canada Limited, which had been set-up in 1927 to meet the requirements of Canadian law in relation to foreign ownership, remained. In 1974, it was reopened to deal in the wholesale banking market. In 1979, foreign banks were allowed to receive charters and London-based Barclays Bank established a new Canadian subsidiary, Barclays Bank of Canada (french: Banque Barclays du Canada). It was reorganised into commercial banking and corporate banking divisions in 1989, and bought by Hongkong Bank of Canada (HBC) in 1996. In 1999, HBC changed its name to

HSBC Bank Canada HSBC Bank Canada (french: Banque HSBC Canada), formerly the Hongkong Bank of Canada (HBC), is a Canadian chartered bank and the Canadian subsidiary of British multinational banking and financial services company HSBC. HSBC Canada is the seventh ...

, consistent with its parent's strategy of creating a global brand.

Present operations

A non-banking subsidiary, Barclays Global Investors Canada Ltd., administers

iShares iShares is a collection of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) managed by BlackRock, which acquired the brand and business from Barclays in 2009. The first iShares ETFs were known as World Equity Benchmark Shares (WEBS) but have since been rebranded. ...

and exchange-traded

index fund An index fund (also index tracker) is a mutual fund or exchange-traded fund (ETF) designed to follow certain preset rules so that the fund can a specified basket of underlying investments.Reasonable Investor(s), Boston University Law Review, avai ...

s. In 2010, Barclays Bank again applied for the right to open branches in Canada. The current operation, providing services to investment banking clients, is licensed by the

Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI; french: Bureau du surintendant des institutions financières, BSIF) is an independent agency of the Government of Canada reporting to the Minister of Finance created "to contribut ...

to carry on business as a foreign bank branch in Toronto and Calgary under the name Barclays Bank Plc, Canada Branch. In time, it is expected to offer full-service loans, sales, trading and research platform through Barclays Capital Canada Inc..

References

External links