Standard Bank - History

History

The bank was formed in 1862 as a South African subsidiary of the British overseas bank Standard Bank, under the name Standard Bank of South Africa.

The British bank's history in South Africa dated back to 1862, when a group of businessmen led by John Paterson formed the bank in London, initially under the name Standard Bank of British South Africa. The bank started operations in 1863 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and soon after opening it merged with several other banks including the Commercial Bank of Port Elizabeth, the Colesberg Bank, the British Kaffrarian Bank and the Fauresmith Bank.

It was prominent in financing and development of the diamond fields of Kimberley in 1867. The word "British" was dropped from the title in 1883. When gold was discovered on the Witwatersrand, the bank expanded northwards and on 11 October 1886 the bank started doing business in a tent at Ferreira's Camp (later to be called Johannesburg), thus becoming the first bank to open a branch on the Witwatersrand gold fields. On 1 November 1901 a second branch was opened in Eloff Street of Johannesburg.

In 1920 the Standard Bank bought out the African Banking Corporation.

Until 1962 the British bank was formally known as the Standard Bank of South Africa, although by then its operations spread across Africa. When the South African operations were formed into a subsidiary in 1962, the parent changed its name to Standard Bank Limited, and the South African subsidiary took its parent's previous name.

The parent bank merged in 1969 with Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China and the combined bank became known as Standard Chartered Bank. The Standard Bank Investment Corporation (now Standard Bank Group) was established as the holding company of the South African bank. Standard Chartered sold its remaining 39% stake in Standard Bank Group in 1987, transferring complete ownership of the holding company to South African investors.