Grindlays Captain Robert Melville Grindlay (1786 - 1877) established the firm, Leslie & Grindlay, in
London in 1828, to arrange secure passage to and from India for customers and their baggage. Initially based in Birchin Lane near
Lombard Street in London, the company acted as agents to organise travel arrangements and provide advisory services for their clientele, particularly
East India Company employees and British officials. Expansion of the business saw the opening of several other offices in the
City of London (
Cornhill and
Bishopsgate) and
Westminster (
Whitehall and
St James's Square). When Grindlay eventually retired in 1842, the firm had become "the most distinguished bankers and agents to the civil and military officials of the business community and the British Army in India". The firm remained based solely in London until 1854 when offices were opened at
Calcutta in 1864 and then
Bombay in 1865. These offices were largely autonomous, administered from London, until the local partners interests were bought out in 1908. Additional branches were opened in
Simla (1912),
Delhi (1923),
Lahore (1924) and
Peshawar (1926). encouraged the Grindlays partners to seek the security of a larger organisation. In 1924, the Bank was acquired by the
National Provincial Bank, converted into a company and allowed to operate independently as Grindlay & Co Ltd. In 1984
Citibank and Lloyds sold Grindlays to the
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group. In 1989, five years after it acquired Grindlays, ANZ changed Grindlays' name to ANZ Grindlays Bank and transferred its domicile (requiring an Act of Parliament) to Australia in 1996. In 1993, ANZ Grindlays sold its African operations to
Standard Bank Investment Corporation (Stanbic), which was the holding company for
Standard Bank of South Africa's operations outside
South Africa.
Standard Chartered Bank had sold its shares in
Standard Bank of South Africa to the bank's existing shareholders in 1987 to escape anti-apartheid sanctions against
South Africa. In 2000, ANZ sold its Grindlays subsidiary to
Standard Chartered for US$1.34 (A$2.2) billion in cash, which merged it with its existing banking operations. == See also ==