Great Britain Chartered Bank of India, Australia & China 1 Share 1854

Founded by Royal Charter in 1853 to provide banking services in the Far East. Branches were opened in Calcutta, Bombay and Shanghai (1858), Hong Kong and Singapore (1859) as well as Karachi (1863). Chartered Bank was keen to capitalise on the huge expansion of trade between India and China and other British possessions in Asia, and the handsome profits that could be made from financing the movement of goods from Europe to the Far East. The bank'sexpansion continued to the 1900s, leading it to open more branches across Asia, New York and Hamburg. In 1969, Chartered Bank merged with the South African bank Standard bank, forming Standard Chartered Bank which still exists today.; XF