Manufacturers Hanover Corporation

The roots of Manufacturers Hanover have been traced as far back as 1812, when the New York Manufacturing Co. was founded with a charter that included banking authority. in what was then the City of Williamsburgh, a couple of years before its incorporation into Brooklyn. In 1858, the bank changed its name to the Manufacturers' Bank of Brooklyn. It took the name Manufacturers National Bank of Brooklyn in 1868, which name it kept into the twentieth century. Some sources view Citizens Trust as the surviving company in this merger, which leads them to trace the Manufacturers Trust line back only to 1905, while others, as previously stated, consider the line to extend back to 1853.) It would stay under the Manufacturers Trust Company name for the next forty-six years. == Manufacturers Trust Company ==

in midtown Manhattan that formerly led to a branch of the Manufacturers Trust Company The head of Manufacturers Trust Company was the noted banker and philanthropist Nathan S. Jonas, who had come over from Citizens Trust. Jonas put into place an ambitious strategy towards expansion, and through various mergers with banks throughout New York City, it became a growing commercial bank. To begin with, Manufacturers Trust acquired a Manhattan presence with its acquisition of the West Side Bank of New York in 1918. Acquisitions continued apace. Working with banking officials at both the national and state levels, Gibson stabilized Manufacturers Trust and then led it in the following year in acquiring the large but financially troubled Chatham Phenix National Bank and Trust Company of New York. It managed the New Yorker, the Lexington, and the Belmont Plaza hotels (New York); the Congress Hotel (Chicago); the Netherland Plaza (Cincinnati); the Adolphus Hotel (Dallas); the Van Cleve (Dayton); the Book-Cadillac (Detroit); the Nicollet Hotel (Minneapolis); the New York Municipal Airport Restaurants (New York); and the Eastern Slope Inn (North Conway, New Hampshire). The National Hotel Management Company was dissolved within a month of Hitz's death in 1940. During the late 1930s and 1940s, Manufacturers Trust introduced several new services to retail banking, including personal loans and loans for property improvement and construction purposes. In 1944, the bank had 67 branches. In 1950, Manufacturers Trust grew even bigger when it acquired the Brooklyn Trust Company after outbidding Chase Bank for it. As a result, the number of branches that the bank had rose to over a hundred. One landmark branch that opened in 1954 at 510 Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan is known as the Manufacturers Trust Company Building; built in the International Style, its spacious luminous feel, large glass facade, and the bank vault's visibility from the street were an immediate success with customers and even became a tourist attraction. == Manufacturers Hanover Trust ==

Origin in merger On January 17, 1961, it was announced that Manufacturers Trust Company had agreed to merge with Hanover Bank, creating the Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company. The planned entity would become the fourth-largest bank in the United States and the third-largest in New York City. The bank moved into new headquarters at 350 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan during 1961, leasing space from the Uris Buildings Corporation The merger was approved by the New York State Banking Department in June 1961 and then by the Federal Reserve Board in September 1961. The merger closed on September 8, 1961, a couple of days after the Fed assent, in an effort to forestall any possible action from the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division. However, minutes after the merger papers were filed, the Justice Department filed suit against the banks to block it from proceeding. Five years of court cases ensued, complicated by the U.S. Supreme Court case United States v. Philadelphia National Bank (1963), which interpreted the Bank Merger Act of 1960 as to allow the forbiddance of mergers such as the Manufacturers Hanover Trust one. In 1966, a new law was passed by Congress; and Manufacturers Hanover reached an agreement with the Department of Justice. At the same time, shares in Manufacturers Hanover Corporation were listed on the New York Stock Exchange Manufacturers Hanover remained the nation's fourth-largest bank. Hauge was named chairman in 1971, But the effective leadership of the corporation went to its president, John F. McGillicuddy, who had risen quickly within the ranks of the bank. In 1979, Hauge retired, and McGillicuddy held all three titles of president, chairman, and chief executive officer. It was considered among the top American banks, alongside Citicorp and Chase Manhattan Bank, and had a reputation for stability. Among commercial banks in New York City, it was the only one still willing to distribute food stamps and to cash welfare checks, and the bank became a main source of financing for check-cashing stores. Manufacturers Hanover had a sense of internal loyalty, wherein layoffs were avoided and lifetime employment was fairly common. It also had a sense of loyalty towards its customers, with relationships formed over long associations and activities such as time spent together on golf courses. By the early to mid-1980s, Manufacturers Hanover was both a major money center bank In the 1970s, Manufacturers Hanover ran a series of television commercials made by Young & Rubicam that used the tagline "It's banking the way you want it to be" and that featured the actor and comedian Tim Conway as a celebrity spokesperson. At the same time, a large Manufacturers Hanover billboard advertising "Super Checking" was a prominent feature of the newly renovated Yankee Stadium. The billboard could be considered Chris Chambliss hit the walk-off home run that won the 1976 American League Championship Series for the New York Yankees over the Kansas City Royals. Also during the 1970s, Manufacturers Hanover heavily promoted its "Any Car" Loan using an "Any Car," known as the "ForChevAmChrysVagen," made up of parts from over twenty different cars. Subsequently, AnyCar II and AnyCar III appeared, which were made of parts from about 50 and 40 different automobile models, respectively. Sponsorships The bank was involved in sponsoring a number of different sports events, The bank was a founding sponsor of the New York City Marathon and over the years held exclusive events there for their most moneyed clients. By 1988, there were eighteen Corporate Challenge events per year, and some five thousand companies entered teams in them, with Manufacturers Hanover soliciting business from the best prospects among them. The challenge has existed to this day under successor names. Troubles in Midtown Manhattan, between 47th and 48th Streets; kept as the headquarters of successor companies through JPMorgan Chase. The stock price for Manufacturers Hanover began to fall precipitously during 1984, in large part because the bank was exposed to nearly $7 billion of loans to Central and South America, in particular to Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, and especially Argentina. In addition, MHT followed a "lending banking" model where instead of investment banking, it made traditional short-term loans to corporate customers, but those customers were instead increasingly borrowing via the commercial paper market. The Washington Post characterized the effort as "Manny Hanny dust[ing] off after a nasty fall." In 1991, it bought the New York City branches of the failed Goldome. By 1988, Manufacturers Hanover had fallen to being the nation's sixth-largest bank, and as such, it was one of the most recognized bank names in the country. Real estate figures who were struggling to repay their loans included Peter S. Kalikow, Donald Trump, and William Zeckendorf Jr. The general economic environment for banks was also affected by the early 1990s recession. the resulting company would be known by the Chemical name. Chemical was also suffering from bad loans, The Manufacturers name would gradually disappear. McGillicuddy would serve as chief executive of the merged Chemical until his planned retirement at the start of 1994, while Walter V. Shipley, the head of Chemical, would be president and chief operating officer of the merged company until he succeeded McGillicuddy. Some MHT executives, such as chief financial officer Tobin, continued on in the same position at Chemical. However, Thomas S. Johnson, who had been president of MHT for the previous eight years and had been viewed as the heir apparent to McGillicuddy, was a loser in the merger and departed. The merger was formally closed on a legal basis on December 31, 1991. As of that day, the two bank holding companies had merged, and Manufacturers Hanover no longer existed as an independent corporate establishment. Aftermath Chemical adopted Manufacturers Hanover's logo design and moved into its headquarters at 270 Park Avenue. For a while after the merger, Manufacturers Hanover Trust still existed as a separate bank from Chemical Bank, albeit owned by Chemical Banking Corporation, and MHT branches still existed under that name as well. Then MHT was incorporated as a part of Chemical Bank itself, and in particular the various electronic funds transfer systems were converted over, such as the SWIFT code changing from MAHA33 to CHEMUS33; similar changes were made in the CHIPS system as well as in Fedwire. The New York Times assessed on June 22, 1992, that the code switchovers meant that "Quietly, ... the 180-year-old Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company ceased to exist as an independent bank." After that would follow the closing of some branches and the changing of the signs on the others. The final public vestige of the bank disappeared on April 5, 1993, when a branch on Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan had its Manufacturers Hanover logo replaced as part of a ceremonial event that featured a brass band. As one newspaper headline read, "Manny Hanny's Gone; New Chemical Lives On." However, in many respects parts of MHT remained dominant within Chemical, such as in information systems and at the executive level. Indeed, one trade publication assessed that "The merged bank now seems like little more than a Chemical facade on an MHT core." That deal closed in 1996. Subsequently, in the year 2000, it was announced that Chase Manhattan was merging with J.P. Morgan & Co. to form J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. The Associated Press's coverage of the merger included an illustration of how the three decades of Manufacturers Hanover Trust's existence were part of the makeup of the new financial giant. == Timeline of mergers and name changes ==

The origins timeline: • 1991 – Purchased by Chemical Banking Corporation, and ceases to exist == Earlier history of Central Hanover Bank & Trust Company ==

The other side of the company name Manufacturers Hanover Corporation, and its primary banking subsidiary of Manufacturers Hanover Trust, was the other side of the merger of predecessor Manufacturers Trust with Central Hanover Bank & Trust. Central Hanover was also a large, well-known bank before that merger. It was formed in 1929 from the merger of two other banking giants of the time, Central Union Trust Company and Hanover National Bank. The Hanover bank had been named for George I of Great Britain, the first monarch of the House of Hanover. The corporate history of predecessor Hanover Bank is as follows: • 1912 – Gallatin National Bank of the City of New York (est. 1829) • 1918 – Union Trust Company of New York; changed name to Central Union Trust Company of New York • 1927 – Greenwich National Bank of the City of New York (est. 1830) • 1929 – Hanover Bank of the City of New York; changed name to Central Hanover Bank and Trust Company • 1951 – Changed name to Hanover Bank (no merger) • 1961 – Bought by Manufacturers Trust Company == See also ==