Alliance Bank of Simla

The Alliance Bank of Simla was a British-run though India-registered bank that commenced operations in Simla 1874 under the management of Mr. James Walker. It was established to take over the business of the United Bank of India, established in 1866, with operations in Simla and Umballa. Its board put the United Bank of India in voluntary liquidation on Saturday 21 March, and Alliance Bank commenced operations on Monday, 23 March.[1] The Alliance Bank failed on 27 April 1923 due to speculation by its management. At the time that it failed it had 36 branches, including ones in Lahore, Lucknow, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, and Rangoon.

History

Alliance Bank expanded by taking over the operations of other failed banks. By doing so it was able to extend its branch network and reduce the competition that some of its branches faced.

It was the liquidator for the Punjab Bank (est. 1862) and subsequently opened branches at Murree (10 July 1877), Rawalpindi (6 August 1877), and Lahore (16 January 1878). Alliance Bank then opened branches at Umballa on 14 July 1885 and Cawnpore on 1 December 1887. Branches in Calcutta (15 October 1889), Ajmere (2 February 1891), Agra (1 February 1894), and Bombay (16 February 1903).[1]

Alliance was appointed the liquidator of Himalaya Bank (est. 1874), and opened a branch at Mussoorie on 21 August 1891. Next, it was the liquidator for Lloyd's Bank's branch at Darjeeling and opened a branch there on 1 January 1896.[1]

Early In 1913, it acquired some of the assets and liabilities of the Bank of Upper India, which had been founded in Meerut in 1862 and had been the first joint-stock bank in India. This bank had opened a branch in Agra after the failure of Agra and Masterman's Bank. It had had short-lived branches in Cawnpore and Fyzabad, and more successful ones in Simla (est. 1885), Lucknow, Allahabad, Bareilly, Naini Tal, Delhi and Mussoorie.[2]

Then in 1916 it acquired the Delhi and London Bank (est. 1844),[3] and the Punjab Banking Company. Sir David P. Masson had founded the Punjab Banking Company in Lahore in 1889. The bank had branches in Abbotabad, Dalhousie, Ferozepore, Jullundar, Karachi, Cantonment [sic], Multan, Naushera (in the North-west Frontier province), Quetta, Peshawar, Sialkot, Simla, and Srinagar.

In 1917 Alliance Bank acquired the Bank of Rangoon (est. 1906),[3] which had a branch in Madras in addition to its head office in Rangoon.

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 The Cyclopedia of India: biographical, historical, administrative, commercial, (1907), Volume 1, p.248.
  2. ↑ The Cyclopedia of India: biographical, historical, administrative, commercial, (1907), Volume 2, p.385.
  3. 1 2 Shirras, George Findlay (1920) Indian finance and banking. (Macmillan), p.363.
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