Riggs Bank

Riggs National Corporation

Former type	Public
Traded as	NASDAQ: RIGS
Industry	Finance and insurance
Fate	Acquired
Successor	PNC Bank
Founded	1836
Defunct	2005
Headquarters	Washington, D.C., United States
Key people	Joe Allbritton, Former CEO & Chairman
Products	Financial Services
Number of employees	1,450
Website	N/A

Riggs Bank was a Washington, D.C.-based commercial bank with branches located in the surrounding metropolitan area and offices around the world. For most of its history, it was the largest bank in the U.S. capital. Riggs had been controlled by the Allbritton family since the 1980s, but they lost control after corporate scandals and management problems. On May 16, 2005, the bank merged with PNC Financial Services.

The earliest incarnation of Riggs Bank was formed in 1836 when William Wilson Corcoran opened a small brokerage house. In 1840, Corcoran and George Washington Riggs, the son of a neighbor, formed "Corcoran & Riggs", which offered checking and depositing services. The bank got a major boost in 1844, when the U.S. government assigned Corcoran & Riggs to be the only federal depository in Washington. Corcoran & Riggs financed Samuel Morse's invention of the telegraph in 1845, one of several notable backings in its history. The bank also lent $16 million to the U.S. government to pay for the Mexican-American War in 1847 and in 1868, provided $7.2 million in gold towards the purchase of Alaska. Other notable financing included the Robert Peary’s first expedition to the North Pole and the expansion of the Capitol Building in the 1860s.

In 1854 Corcoran retired and George Washington Riggs re-assumed leadership, resulting in the bank changing its name to "Riggs & Co." After accepting a government charter, "Riggs National Bank" was born in 1896. By 1900, Riggs was twice as large as any other bank in the capital. In 1909, Riggs' president formally presented to the U.S. Congress a plan for economic relief. Many financial reforms were implemented as a result of this plan, including the establishment of the Federal Reserve in 1913.

Throughout the early 20th century, the bank continued to flourish. During World War I, Riggs National Bank participated in a Liberty bond drive. After the war in the 1920s, the bank established a new savings deposit system as a result of the large deposit boom during the previous decade. Throughout the Great Depression, Riggs Director, Robert V. Fleming, also acted as adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. While all of these things were occurring, the bank was also strategically expanding its clientele by opening branches in different areas of Washington, D.C.