National Bank of Canada

This article is about a commercial bank. For Canada's central bank, see Bank of Canada.
National Bank of Canada
Public company
Traded as TSX: NA
Industry Bank
Founded 1859
Headquarters Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Key people
 Louis Vachon (CEO)
Products Financial services
Revenue Increase $5,464 million CAD (2014)[1]
Increase $1,538 million CAD (2014)[1]
Total assets US$169.2 billion (2015)[2]
Number of employees
 20,125 (April 30, 2015)[3]
Website www.nbc.ca

The National Bank of Canada (French: Banque Nationale du Canada) is the sixth largest commercial bank in Canada. It is headquartered in Montreal, and has branches in most Canadian provinces and 2.4 million personal clients.[4] National Bank is the largest bank in Quebec, and the second largest financial institution in the province, after Desjardins. National Bank's Institution Number is 006 and its SWIFT code is BNDCCAMM.

As at October 31, 2014, National Bank had a network of 452 branches and 933 Automated Teller Machines in Canada.[5] It also had a number of representative offices, subsidiaries and partnerships in other countries, through which it serves Canadian and non-Canadian clients.

In 2011, National Bank was placed third in Bloomberg's list of the "The World’s Strongest Banks".[6]

History

The headquarters of the National Bank of Canada is located in Tour de la Banque Nationale.
National Bank of Canada Office in Toronto.
National Bank of Canada in Richmond Hill

In 1859, francophone businessmen in Ontario and Quebec were keen to establish a bank under their local control, and persuade the provincial legislature to pass the act that created the Banque Nationale on May 4, 1859. Some members of the anglophone bourgeoisie participated in the Bank’s share capital, but francophones retained exclusive control and held all seats on the Board of Directors with Ulric-Joseph Tessier, lawyer and Member of the Legislative Assembly serving as Chairman of the bank.

The bank suffered losses during the banking crisis sparked by the financial panic of 1873 and panic of 1884 but managed to survive and continued to operate. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, Banque Nationale again came under financial stress; this time a merger was arranged with Banque d’Hochelaga assisted by the province's legislature to strengthen the bank. The merged bank was renamed "Banque Canadienne Nationale", "Canadian National Bank" (BCN) in English.

In 1968, BCN, in conjunction with a number of other banks, launched Chargex, the first credit card to be issued by a Canadian bank.

During the 1970s, Quebec-based rival Provincial Bank of Canada expanded rapidly through a number of acquisitions. It merged with the People’s Bank in 1970, with the Toronto-based Unity Bank of Canada, and in 1979 it acquired Laurentide Financial Corporation of Vancouver. Provincial Bank and BCN continued to expand but continued to have a large part of their operations concentrated in Quebec. In November 1979, these two banks decided to merge under the new name" National Bank of Canada" in what was at the time one of the largest bank mergers.

Through the 1980s the bank continued to grow and expand its businesses through a number of acquisitions, including the brokerage firm Lévesque Beaubien and a year later Geoffrion Leclerc, which became known as Lévesque Beaubien Geoffrion. In 1993, it sold its lease financing operations to GE Capital and acquired the assets of General Trust of Canada.

In 1994, it made a small step outside Canada when it opened two branches in the United States, one in Florida and one in California. In 1999 it concluded its purchase of First Marathon, a Toronto-based brokerage firm. First Marathon and the Bank's subsidiary Lévesque Beaubien Geoffrion Inc. merged their operations to form National Bank Financial (NBF), its investment banking subsidiary. In 2002 it acquired US-based investment bank Putnam Lovell and merged the operations with its NBF subsidiary which started operating through offices in New York, Toronto, and London.

In March 2006, it sold its shareholder management services to Computershare.[7]

Management structure

The management structure of the bank consists of an Office of the President and a Board of Directors. The membership of the two structures as at 2014 are:

Office of the President[8]

Board of Directors[9]

Jean Houde, Chairman of the Board Louis Vachon, President and Chief Executive Officer Raymond Bachand, Director Maryse Bertrand, Director Lawrence S. Bloomberg, Director Pierre Boivin, Director André Caillé, Director Gillian H. Denham, Director Richard Fortin, Director Karen Kinsley, Director Louise Laflamme, Director Julie Payette, Director Roseann Runte, Director Lino A. Saputo, Jr., Director Andrée Savoie, Director Pierre Thabet, Director

Subsidiaries

Subsidiaries as of October 31, 2014:[10]

Credit agency ratings

On October 26, 2012, rating agency Moody’s Investors Service said it is reviewing the long-term ratings of the National Bank of Canada, because of concerns about consumer debt levels, housing prices, and more.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 "Annual Report 2014" (PDF). National Bank of Canada. October 31, 2014.
  2. ↑ http://www.forbes.com/global2000/list/4/#header:assets_sortreverse:true
  3. ↑ "National Bank profile" (PDF). National Bank of Canada. October 31, 2014.
  4. ↑ "In Brief" (PDF). National Bank of Canada. October 31, 2014.
  5. ↑ "National Bank in Brief" (PDF). National Bank of Canada. October 31, 2014.
  6. ↑ Greenwood, John (May 9, 2011). "Canadian banks are world’s strongest: Bloomberg, Moody’s". Financial Post.
  7. ↑ "National Bank History". National Bank of Canada. 2008.
  8. ↑ "Governance - Office of the President". National Bank of Canada. Retrieved 2014-07-18.
  9. ↑ "Governance - Board of Directors". National Bank of Canada. Retrieved 2014-07-18.
  10. ↑ "Our social responsibility 2013" (PDF). National Bank of Canada. October 31, 2013.
  11. ↑ Kiladze, Tim (October 26, 2012). "Moody’s reviews six Canadian banks, could downgrade". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2013-06-16.

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