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P&O Banking Corporation, was a bank established in 1920, by Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company to develop its private banking business.

Seven years later (in 1927) the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China (now Standard Chartered Bank), acquired P&O Bank and its businesses were amalgamated to the global operations of Chartered Bank.

History

In 1920 James Mackay, later the Earl of Inchcape, of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, established the P&O Banking Corporation to develop the shipping company's private banking business.

Its Director was Sir Alexander Kemp Wright also of the RBS.

Inchacape incorporated the bank on 3 May 1920 with an issued capital of £2m. Shareholders included Lloyds Bank and National Provincial Bank. P&O Bank opened for business in London in June, the following month, and simultaneously at 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 Canton.

In 1920 it also acquired Allahabad Bank (est. 1865) 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.

In 1927 Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China (now Standard Chartered Bank) acquired 75% of 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.

Citations and references

Citations

1. ^ Jones (2000), p. 180.
2. "Alexander Kemp Wright | NatWest Group Heritage Hub".
3. Bank of Ceylon (1989), p. 83.

References

• Bank of Ceylon (1989). Expanding horizons: Bank of Ceylon's first 50 years. Bank of Ceylon. ISBN 978-955-9071-00-6.
• Jones, Geoffrey (2000). Merchants to Multinationals: British Trading Companies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Oxford: Oxford Univ. ISBN 9780198294504.

v t e P&O
Parent company	DP World
Divisions and subsidiaries	Current P&O Ferries P&O Maritime Services P&O Ports Former Bovis Construction Bovis Homes Group DMS Maritime (50%) Pandoro P&O Bank P&O Containers P&O Cruises P&O Cruises Australia P&O European Ferries P&O Irish Sea P&O Nedlloyd P&O North Sea Ferries P&O Ports P&O Portsmouth P&O Princess Cruises P&O Scottish Ferries P&O Stena Line
Acquisitions	British India Steam Navigation Company Coast Lines European Ferries General Steam Navigation Company New Zealand Shipping Company Orient Steam Navigation Company Overseas Containers Strick Line Union Steamship Company of New Zealand
Category

v t e Standard Chartered
Divisions and subsidiaries	Current International Bank of Qatar Standard Chartered Bangladesh Standard Chartered Ghana Standard Chartered Hong Kong (Mox Bank) Standard Chartered India Standard Chartered Kenya Standard Chartered Korea Standard Chartered Nepal Standard Chartered Pakistan Standard Chartered Singapore Standard Chartered Sri Lanka Standard Chartered Tanzania Standard Chartered Thailand Standard Chartered Uganda Standard Chartered Zambia Standard Chartered Zimbabwe Former Allahabad Bank Standard Bank Standard Chartered Bank of Canada Chartered Trust 20Twenty
Predecessors	American Express Bank Bank of British West Africa Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China Colesberg Bank Grindlays Bank Hsinchu International Bank P&O Bank Eastern Bank Standard Bank Union Bank
Places	Six Battery Road Standard Chartered Bank Building
Management	José Viñals (Group Chairman) Bill Winters (Group Chief Executive)
Sponsorships	Greatest Race on Earth Hong Kong Marathon Jersey Marathon Kuala Lumpur Marathon Liverpool Football Club Mumbai Marathon Nairobi Marathon Singapore Marathon Singapore Sevens
Other	Seeing is Believing
Nationalized  Spun off  Sold Category Commons

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