View source for P&O Bank

{{EngvarB|date=May 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
'''P&O Banking Corporation''', was a bank established in 1920, by [[P&O]] to develop its [[private banking]] business.

In 1927 it was sold to [[Chartered Bank of India, Australia & China]] and amalgamated into to the global operations of [[Standard Chartered|Chartered Bank]].

==History==
In 1920 [[P&O]], established the P&O Bank to develop the shipping company's [[private banking]] business.{{sfnp|Jones|2000|p=180}} Its director was [[Alexander Kemp Wright]] also of the [[Royal Bank of Scotland]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.natwestgroup.com/heritage/people/alexander-kemp-wright.html|title = Alexander Kemp Wright|website=[[NatWest Group]]}}</ref>

Inchacape incorporated the bank on 3 May 1920 with an issued capital of £2 million. Shareholders included [[Lloyds Bank]] and [[National Provincial Bank]]. P&O Bank opened for business in London in June, the following month, and simultaneously in Calcutta, Bombay and [[Madras]]. More branches overseas followed. In 1920, P&O Bank established a branch in Colombo, [[Ceylon]], which it followed by establishing branches in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, and [[Guangzhou|Canton]].

In 1920 it also acquired [[Allahabad Bank]] in India. However, P&O Bank ran Allahabad Bank separately.

However, P&O Bank was unable to wean the customers of the shipping business away from their existing banking relationships. In a search of income it ended up booking riskier business, with the result that it was plagued with bad debts.{{sfnp|Jones|2000|p=180}}

In 1927, [[Chartered Bank of India, Australia & China]] acquired a 75% shareholding in P&O Bank and later acquired the remaining shares, P&O Bank never having established a viable banking business. For a while, Chartered continued to run the two banks, P&O and Allahabad, separately. In 1937 Chartered merged in P&O Bank, but not Allahabad; the [[government of India]] nationalized Allahabad on 19 July 1969.

When Chartered closed the branch in Colombo, the Bank of Ceylon was able to take on almost the entire staff.{{sfnp|Bank of Ceylon|1989|p=83}}

==Citations and references==
'''Citations'''
{{reflist}}
'''References'''
* {{cite book |author=Bank of Ceylon |year=1989 |isbn=978-955-9071-00-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ADsWAQAAMAAJ |title=Expanding horizons: Bank of Ceylon's first 50 years |publisher=Bank of Ceylon}}
* {{cite book |first1=Geoffrey |last1=Jones |year=2000 |isbn=9780198294504 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q-uCPTZMDmQC |title=Merchants to Multinationals: British Trading Companies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford Univ}}

{{Portal|Banks}}
{{P&O}}
{{Standard Chartered}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:PandO Bank}}
[[Category:P&O]]
[[Category:Standard Chartered]]
[[Category:Banks established in 1920]]
[[Category:British overseas banks]]
[[Category:1920 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Banks disestablished in 1927]]
[[Category:1927 disestablishments in England]]
[[Category:British companies disestablished in 1927]]
[[Category:British companies established in 1920]]


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