Continental Bank () was a bank in China. It specialized in

savings Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an ...

, warehouses,

trusts A trust is a legal relationship in which the owner of property, or any transferable right, gives it to another to manage and use solely for the benefit of a designated person. In the English common law, the party who entrusts the property is k ...

and real estate business. It was founded in

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

in 1919 by

Feng Guozhang Feng Guozhang (; 7 January 1859 – 12 December 1919) was a Chinese general and politician in the late Qing dynasty and early republican China who was Vice President from 1916 to 1917 and then acting President of the Republic of China from 1917 ...

, the acting president of Republic of China and Tan Lisun, the former

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

director of

Bank of China The Bank of China (BOC; ; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Banco da China'') is a state-owned Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Beijing, Beijing, China. It is one of ...

. Half a month later, a Beijing branch was also established. In 1942, its

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

was moved to Shanghai. In 1952, it was closed down. Tha bank, together with Yien Yieh Commercial Bank, Kincheng Banking Corporation and China & South Sea Bank, are called " Four Northern Banks", which were the four most

capitalized Capitalization ( North American spelling; also British spelling in Oxford) or capitalisation (Commonwealth English; all other meanings) is writing a word with its first letter as a capital letter (uppercase letter) and the remaining letters in ...

commercial banks A commercial bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit (finance), deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make a Profit (economics), profit. It can also refer to a bank or a division o ...

Northern China Northern China () and Southern China () are two approximate regions that display certain differences in terms of their geography, demographics, economy, and culture. Extent The Qinling, Qinling–Daba Mountains serve as the transition zone ...

in the 1920s.Four Northern Banks
/ref> The Continental Bank's building on West Jiaomin Lane in Beijing, erected in 1924, became the seat of a short-lived Agricultural Bank of China in 1955-1957 and was subsequently taken over by the

People's Bank of China The People's Bank of China (officially PBC and unofficially PBOC) is the central bank of the People's Republic of China. It is responsible for carrying out monetary policy as determined by the ''PRC People's Bank Law'' and the ''PRC Commercia ...

. In 1979, the newly re-established

was headquartered in the former Continental Bank building, before moving in 2001 to a new building on Fuxingmen Inner Street designed by I. M. Pei. In 2021, the former Continental Bank building was converted into a museum. File:天津大陆银行大楼.jpg, Former Continental Bank head office building in

File:Mainland Bank Old Address.jpg, Former File:青岛大陆银行.jpg, Former branch building in

Qingdao Qingdao, Mandarin: , (Qingdao Mandarin: t͡ɕʰiŋ˧˩ tɒ˥) is a prefecture-level city in the eastern Shandong Province of China. Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, Qingdao was long an important fortress. In 1897, the city was ceded to G ...

File:Dalu Building Shanghai.JPG, Former Continental Bank building in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

References

{{reflist Defunct banks of China Companies based in Tianjin Banks based in Shanghai Banks disestablished in 1952 Banks established in 1919 Chinese companies established in 1919 Defunct companies based in Shanghai

See also

References