There have been two Canadian banks with the name Bank of British Columbia.
The first bank
The first was established by Royal Charter in 1862, with its head office in London. Between 1862 and 1871 it issued dollar banknotes. By 1885 it had branches in San Fransisco, Portland, Oregon (est. 1866), Victoria, British Columbia (est. 1862) and New Westminster (est. 1862). In 1889 it established a branch in Seattle. In 1901 it merged with the Canadian Bank of Commerce. At the time of the merger it had branches at Vancouver (est. 1886), Victoria, Kamloops, Nanaimo, Nelson, New Westminster, Rosland, Sandon, San Fransisco, Portland, and London.
The second bank
The second bank was chartered in 1966 with headquarters in Vancouver and was the creation of W.A.C. Bennett, the Premier of the Province of British Columbia. Mr. Bennett, a businessman, wanted to end Central Canada's absolute 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 or Toronto.
In 1978, financed by the provincial government, Mr. Bennett, in his capacity as the provincial premier, proceeded to distribute the shares freely to the citizens of British Columbia. In 1986 it had 1410 employees. 41 branches in BC and Alberta, and offices in the Cayman Islands, the US and Hong Kong. Assets in 1986 were CAD$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 poor management, most notably by the flamboyant Edgar F. Kaiser, Jr., in 1986 the Canadian government permitted the Hongkong Bank of Canada (HSBC) to rescue it. By stepping in, HSBC acquired a large base of stable retail deposits. The acquisition immediately jumped HSBC's rank amongst Canadian banks from the 20th to the 9th largest.
See also
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