List of oldest banks in continuous operation
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{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{one source|date=February 2020}}
File:Palazzo Salimbeni, Siena, Headquarters of Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the worlds oldest surviving bank.jpg, headquarters in Siena today]]File:Cornelius Berenberg.jpg, a member of the Berenberg family, whose grandfather founded Berenberg Bank in 1590]]This list of the oldest banks includes financial institutions in continuous operation, operating with the same legal identity without interruption since their establishment until the present time.
The world's oldest bank is Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, while the world's oldest merchant bank is Berenberg Bank. Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena was founded in its present form in 1624, but traces its history to a mount of piety founded in 1472. The Berenberg company was founded in 1590 and has operated continuously ever since with the same family as owners or major co-owners. Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena is today a large Italian retail bank, while Berenberg Bank is primarily involved in investment banking and private banking for wealthy customers; in any event Berenberg Bank is the world's oldest merchant bank or investment bank. The world's oldest central bank is the Sveriges Riksbank, which was founded in 1668. Banco di Napoli, which was absorbed by different entities between 2002–2018, had origins dating back to 1539, and until its absorption was likely the oldest bank worldwide in continuous operation; some scholars posit that its origins may be dated back to 1463.{{cite web | url=https://group.intesasanpaolo.com/it/chi-siamo/storia/banco-napoli | title=Storia: Banco di Napoli - Intesa Sanpaolo }}
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Banks established in the 15th and 16th centuries
| class="wikitable"
!Year !Company !Country (historic) !Country (modern) !Notes |
| 1472
|Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena |{{flag|Italy}} |The world's oldest bank. Founded as a mount of piety, refounded in its present form in the Republic of Florence in 1624 |
| 1590
|{{flag|Germany}} |The oldest merchant bank |
Banks established in the 17th century
| class="wikitable sortable"
!Year !Company !Country (historic) !Country (modern) !class=unsortable|Notes |
| 1668
|Kingdom of Sweden |{{flag|Sweden}} |The world's oldest central bank. |
| 1672
|{{flag|United Kingdom}} |One of the oldest British banks and the oldest privately owned bank, not a limited company. |
| 1674
|{{flag|Germany}} | |
| 1690
|Kingdom of England |{{flag|United Kingdom}} | |
| 1692
|Kingdom of England |{{flag|United Kingdom}} |Part of NatWest Group. |
| 1694
|Kingdom of England |{{flag|United Kingdom}} | |
| 1695
|{{flag|United Kingdom}} |Part of Lloyds Banking Group. |
Banks established in the 18th century
| class="wikitable sortable"
!Year !Company !Country (historic) !Country (modern) !class=unsortable|Notes |
| 1702
|Spain |{{flag|Spain}} |Predecessor institution to Bankia (today part of CaixaBank) |
| 1717
|Kingdom of Great Britain |{{flag|United Kingdom}} |A branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland |
| 1727
|Kingdom of Great Britain |{{flag|United Kingdom}} |Part of NatWest Group |
| 1737
|Dutch Republic |{{flag|Netherlands}} | The oldest independent bank in the NetherlandsInternational Investment UBS to sell its Netherlands wealth management bizhttps://www.internationalinvestment.net/internationalinvestment/news/3503988/ubs-sell-netherlands-wealth-management-biz {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208203818/https://www.internationalinvestment.net/internationalinvestment/news/3503988/ubs-sell-netherlands-wealth-management-biz |date=8 February 2021 }} Accessed 2 January 2021 and the Benelux.{{cite news|title=A Chinese carmaker agrees to buy a Danish investment bank|url=https://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21730048-despite-curbs-outward-investment-chinese-firms-are-expanding-european|newspaper=The Economist|date=5 October 2017|access-date=30 January 2021|archive-date=15 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180215105310/https://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21730048-despite-curbs-outward-investment-chinese-firms-are-expanding-european|url-status=live}}The New York Times Belgian Bank Deal 25 April 1990 https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/25/business/company-news-belgian-bank-deal.html Accessed 2 January 2021 |
| 1747
|{{flag|Belgium}} | |
| 1750
|Zürich |{{flag|Switzerland}} | |
| 1760
|Kingdom of France |{{flag|France}} | |
| 1765
|Kingdom of Great Britain |{{flag|United Kingdom}} |Part of Lloyds Banking Group. |
| 1774
|{{flag|Germany}} | |
| 1777
|Baden-Baden, Germany |{{flag|Germany}} |Part of GRENKE AGhttps://www.grenke.de/unternehmen/grenke-deutschland/geschaeftsfelder/bank/ |
| 1780
|{{flag|Switzerland}} | |
| 1782
|Spain |{{flag|Spain}} | |
| 1783
|Kingdom of Ireland |{{flag|Ireland}} (and Northern Ireland) | |
| 1784
|The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation |United States |{{flag|United States}} |Oldest US bank tracing to its original incorporation, without resorting to an acquired predecessor{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} |
| 1785
|{{flag|Germany}} |Acquired in 1980s by Midland Bank and then 1992 to British bank HSBC |
| 1786
|Kingdom of France |{{flag|United Kingdom}} |Edmond de Rothschild Group acquired a 42.5% stake in Hottinger Group on 31 May 2022 |
| 1792
|United States |{{flag|United States}} |Age dated to predecessor Union Bank |
| 1796
|{{flag|Germany}} | |
| 1796
|Geneva |{{flag|Switzerland}} | |
| 1798
|Hamburg |{{flag|Germany}} | |
| 1798
|Hamburg |{{flag|Germany}} | |
| |1799
|Bank of the Manhattan Company |United States |{{flag|United States}} |Predecessor institution to JPMorgan Chase |
See also
Notes
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References
{{Reflist}}
Literature
- Manfred Pohl; Sabine Freitag (1994), [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/financial-history-review/article/abs/manfred-pohl-and-sabine-freitag-eds-handbook-on-the-history-of-european-banks-london-edward-elgar-for-the-european-association-for-banking-history-ev-1994-1303-pp-19900/6EB288FCBB92CC6125E09BC0EE59E96E Handbook on the History of European Banks, European Association for Banking History], Cambridge University Press.
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