Bank of Adelaide

{{Short description|Australian bank}}

File:Bank of Adelaide, Georgetown, SA.jpg

{{Distinguish|Adelaide Bank}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}}

{{Use Australian English|date=September 2015}}

The Bank of Adelaide was an Australian bank founded in 1865 in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia.{{cite web |url=http://digital.slv.vic.gov.au/view/action/singleViewer.do?dvs=1483059459922~613&locale=en_AU&metadata_object_ratio=10&show_metadata=true&VIEWER_URL=/view/action/singleViewer.do?&preferred_usage_type=VIEW_MAIN&DELIVERY_RULE_ID=10&frameId=1&usePid1=true&usePid2=true |title=Deed of Settlement, The Bank of Adelaide |via=State Library Victoria |access-date=30 December 2016 }}{{Dead link|date=June 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} It was incorporated by an act of the Parliament of South Australia.{{cite web |url=https://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/LZ/C/A/THE%20BANK%20OF%20ADELAIDE%20ACT%201865.aspx |publisher=Government of South Australia |title=The Bank of Adelaide Act 1865 |access-date=30 December 2016}} The original directors of the company were Henry Ayers, Thomas Greaves Waterhouse, Robert Barr Smith, Thomas Magarey and George Peter Harris.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207603202 |title=THE BANK OF ADELAIDE. |newspaper=The Adelaide Express |volume=II |issue=517 |location=South Australia |date=10 August 1865 |access-date=30 December 2016 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}

The bank had most of its branches within South Australia, including its head office at 81 King William Street, Adelaide. Interstate branches were located in Sydney NSW, Belconnen ACT, Canberra ACT, Brisbane, Dandenong VIC, Hobart TAS, Melbourne VIC, Townsville QLD, Woden ACT. The bank also had a branch in central London at 11 Leadenhall Street.

The Bank of Adelaide was taken over in 1979 by ANZ and merged into that organisation,{{Cite web|url=http://www.gabr.net.au/biogs/ABE0180b.htm|title=The Bank of Adelaide - Guide to Australian Business Records Corporate entry|first=Bruce A.|last=Smith|website=www.gabr.net.au}} after bailing out a subsidiary finance company (the Finance Corporation of Australia) that had lent too much to people without the security to cover the loans.{{Cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/money/currency/features/feat3.htm |title=Australia's Banking History |website=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=6 February 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140730142737/http://www.abc.net.au/money/currency/features/feat3.htm |archive-date=30 July 2014 |url-status=dead }}