The British Bank of Madras (1795) was an Indian

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

founded in the year 1795 in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. The bank was the eighth oldest bank in India. The bank was eventually merged with the Bank of Madras in 1843.

History

Founding

The British Bank of Madras was the second oldest bank founded in the

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency or Madras Province, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India and later the Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency i ...

after the Carnatic Bank and served many cities in South India. The bank was founded and largely managed by European traders. They worked closely with the English East India Company.

Management

The bank was staffed by mostly British nationals who were drawn mainly from the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

. The bank had most of its offices and branches in the

. The bank was headquartered in George Town in Chennai.

Final years

The bank was one of four banks that were merged to form the Bank of Madras in 1843: the Madras Bank, the Carnatic Bank, The British Bank of Madras (1795), and the Asiatic Bank (1804). The Bank of Madras is one of the precursors of the

Imperial Bank of India The Imperial Bank of India (IBI) was one of the oldest and the largest commercial banks in India, and was subsequently renamed and nationalised as the State Bank of India in 1955. Initially, as per its royal charter, it acted as the central ba ...

and eventually the

State Bank of India State Bank of India (SBI) is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational Public sector undertakings in India, public sector bank and financial service body headquartered in Mumbai. It is the largest bank in India with a 23% market shar ...

Legacy

The bank is notable for being the eighth oldest bank in India. The bank is also notable for being one of the precursors of the

, through its predecessors the

and the Bank of Madras.

References

External links

Oldest Banks in India

{{DEFAULTSORT:The British Bank of Madras Defunct banks of India Companies based in Chennai Banks established in 1795