Early years: 1853–1900 The historic bank started life in October 1853 as the Mercantile Bank of Bombay, taking the name of the city,
Bombay, 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, such as the
Oriental Bank Corporation,
Hongkong and 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 US$21.7 million, 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. The bank expanded its presence with branches across India, the
Straits Settlements and
Federated Malay States, and in Hong Kong and Shanghai. It issued banknotes in
Penang,
Singapore and
Hong Kong. It became the issuer of
Hong Kong banknotes for the first time from 1859 to 1892.
Trouble in 1893 meant it lost its
charter, and was reconstituted as the
Mercantile Bank of India Ltd.
Transition years: 1900–1959 There was a re-consolidation of its operations at the beginning of the 20th century; and in 1912 it again became an issuer of Hong Kong banknotes, a privilege it retained until 1974. In 1952, total assets of the bank totalled US$205.5 million.
Amalgamation into HSBC and divestment: 1959–1987 The bank was acquired in 1959 by
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. By then its name had been shortened again, to the Mercantile Bank Ltd. The former office in Bombay now houses the
HSBC Group's Head Office in India. The Mercantile Bank continued to issue Hong Kong banknotes until the early 1970s. The signing of the historic
Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984, provided HSBC added impetus to expand overseas and sold the entity - Mercantile Bank, Ltd to
Citibank the same year as part of its consolidation strategy. It was eventually sold to
the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd. in 1987. ==See also==