Mercantile Bank of India, London and China
| Industry | Financial Services |
|---|---|
| Fate | Acquired by HSBC 1959 Acquired by Citibank 1984 Acquired by the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd. 1987 |
| Predecessor | Mercantile Bank of Bombay (1853) Mercantile Bank of India, London, and China (1857) Mercantile Bank of India, Ltd (1893) |
| Founded | 1853 |
| Headquarters |
Bombay (1853) London (1858) |
The Mercantile Bank of India, London and China (later, Mercantile Bank, Ltd) was an Anglo-Indian bank with business focus in the Far East. It was founded in Bombay in 1853 as the Mercantile Bank of Bombay; and later in 1857 was renamed to Mercantile Bank of India, London, and China with London as its headquarters.
By 1959, through a series of mergers and divisions, its name had been shortened to 'Mercantile Bank, Ltd', and was acquired by HSBC the same year. The bank was an issuer of Hong Kong bank notes till 1974.
The historic bank started life in October 1853 as the 'Mercantile Bank of Bombay', taking the name of the city, Bombay (now Mumbai), where it was founded. It expanded its operations to the Far East in November 1854 with the opening of an office in Shanghai. In 1857, the bank was granted a royal charter, and it established a presence in Hong Kong. The name was late changed to the 'Mercantile Bank of India, London, and China', and it moved its headquarters to London in 1858.
It competed with the other great British banks of those times, namely - Oriental Bank Corporation, the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank and Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China; involved in trade between India and China and other British possessions, East of suez. By 1860, its total assets reached the amount of 21.7 million USD, a medium-sized bank by the standards of that time - a comparison shows that one of the leading Anglo-Indian banks, the Oriental Bank Corporation was about three times larger in terms of total assets. With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869; and completion of Indo-European telegraph line from London to Calcutta, and its extension to China in 1871; most British banks (including Mercantile bank) were well placed to expand and develop its business.
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