P&O Bank
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P&O Banking Corporation, was a bank established in 1920, by P&O to develop its private banking business.
In 1927 it was sold to Chartered Bank of India, Australia & China and amalgamated into to the global operations of Chartered Bank.
History
In 1920 P&O, established the P&O Bank to develop the shipping company's private banking business.{{sfnp|Jones|2000|p=180}} Its director was Alexander Kemp Wright also of the Royal Bank of Scotland.{{Cite web|url=https://www.natwestgroup.com/heritage/people/alexander-kemp-wright.html|title = Alexander Kemp Wright|website=NatWest Group}}
Inchacape incorporated the bank on 3 May 1920 with an issued capital of £2 million. Shareholders included Lloyds Bank and National Provincial Bank. P&O Bank opened for business in London in June, the following month, and simultaneously in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. More branches overseas followed. In 1920, P&O Bank established a branch in Colombo, Ceylon, which it followed by establishing branches in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Canton.
In 1920 it also acquired Allahabad Bank in India. However, P&O Bank ran Allahabad Bank separately.
However, P&O Bank was unable to wean the customers of the shipping business away from their existing banking relationships. In a search of income it ended up booking riskier business, with the result that it was plagued with bad debts.{{sfnp|Jones|2000|p=180}}
In 1927, Chartered Bank of India, Australia & China acquired a 75% shareholding in P&O Bank and later acquired the remaining shares, P&O Bank never having established a viable banking business. For a while, Chartered continued to run the two banks, P&O and Allahabad, separately. In 1937 Chartered merged in P&O Bank, but not Allahabad; the government of India nationalized Allahabad on 19 July 1969.
When Chartered closed the branch in Colombo, the Bank of Ceylon was able to take on almost the entire staff.{{sfnp|Bank of Ceylon|1989|p=83}}
Citations and references
Citations
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References
- {{cite book |author=Bank of Ceylon |year=1989 |isbn=978-955-9071-00-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ADsWAQAAMAAJ |title=Expanding horizons: Bank of Ceylon's first 50 years |publisher=Bank of Ceylon}}
- {{cite book |first1=Geoffrey |last1=Jones |year=2000 |isbn=9780198294504 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q-uCPTZMDmQC |title=Merchants to Multinationals: British Trading Companies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford Univ}}
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Category:Banks established in 1920
Category:British overseas banks
Category:1920 establishments in England
Category:Banks disestablished in 1927
Category:1927 disestablishments in England
Category:British companies disestablished in 1927
Category:British companies established in 1920
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