Table Of ContentGenealogy of American Finance
Genealogy of American Finance
Robert E. Wright
Richard Sylla
Museum of American Finance
48 Wall Street, New York City
Columbia University Press
Genealogy of American Finance
Museum of American Finance
48 Wall Street
New York, NY 10005
www.moaf.org
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Design: Thumb/Luke Bulman
with Celine Gordon and Camille Sacha Salvador
Copyright © 2015 Museum of American Finance
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-231-17026-0
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wright, Robert E. (Robert Eric), 1969–
Sylla, Richard (Richard Sylla), 1940–
Genealogy of American fi nance / Robert E. Wright and Richard Sylla.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-231-17026-0 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Banks and banking — United States. 2. Investment banking — United States.
3. Financial institutions — United States. I. Title.
HG2491.W75 2015
332.1'20973 — dc23
2014027289
All reasonable attempts have been made to identify owners of copyright. Errors or omissions will be
corrected in future volumes. No part of this volume may be reproduced without the written permission
of the publisher, except in the context of reviews.
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper.
This book is printed on paper with recycled content. Printed in the United States of America.
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
vii Foreword, Charles M. Royce
viii Overview of the Big 50
Headquarters Location
Holding Company Location
Industry of Origin
Assets
Earliest Known Ancestor
1 Introduction: A Brief History of Banking in America
4 Banks, Holding Companies and Corporate Genealogies: Necessary Technical Talk
The Big 50
10 Ally Financial 118 Discover Financial 212 PNC Financial Services
16 American Express 122 E*Trade 220 Popular
24 American International Group 126 Fifth Third Bancorp 224 Principal Financial Group
28 BancWest 134 First Niagara 228 RBS-Citizens Financial
36 Bank of America 138 General Electric Capital 234 Regions Financial
46 Bank of New York Mellon 142 Goldman Sachs 242 Santander Holdings USA
54 BB&T 148 HSBC North America 248 State Street
62 BBVA Compass Bancshares 154 Hudson City Bancorp 252 SunTrust Banks
70 BMO Financial 158 Huntington Bancshares 260 Synovus Financial
76 BOK Financial 164 John Deere Capital 268 TD Bank US Holding
80 Capital One Financial 168 JPMorgan Chase 276 U.S. Bancorp
88 Charles Schwab 180 KeyCorp 284 UnionBanCal
92 CIT Group 188 M&T Bank 292 USAA
98 Citigroup 194 Morgan Stanley 296 Utrecht-America Holdings
104 City National 198 New York Community Bancorp 300 Wells Fargo
108 Comerica 202 Northern Trust 308 Zions Bancorporation
114 Deutsche Bank 206 People’s United Financial
316 Conclusion
318 Illustration Credits
3 20 Index
3 24 Acknowledgments
Foreword
I was introduced to the leadership of the Museum of American
Finance through my friend and television personality, Consuelo
Mack, who serves on the Museum’s Board of Trustees. During
the course of my initial conversation with President David Cowen,
I brought up an idea I have had for years, which is to trace the genealo-
gies — or family trees — of the major American financial firms. I have
been working in finance for more than 50 years and have witnessed
first-hand many dramatic changes in the industry. So many firms that
existed when I first began investing are no longer around.
Given that my firm looks for “value” in companies when we invest,
I asked David if there was value in this idea. His response was that,
indeed, this would be an invaluable research tool. This book is the
first output of that discussion.
As the only independent finance museum in the nation, the
Museum often fields calls from researchers inquiring about what
happened to certain firms or banks — now defunct or acquired. Many
times those questions have been difficult to answer. Moreover, the two
main regulatory bodies, The Federal Reserve and the FDIC, do not have
complete information and are, therefore, also unable to also answer
those questions. According to the Museum’s exhibit team, an area of
the “Banking in America” exhibit featuring an abridged genealogy of
the Bank of America was the single largest piece of research that went
into any section of the Museum’s permanent exhibits. This is largely
because more than one hundred years’ worth of merger and acquisition
data is so difficult to come by.
My conversations with David and the Museum team resulted in my
commitment to underwrite a massive research project to compile these
family trees and house them in a central location. It has taken well over
a year of research — which included hundreds of hours of archival leg-
work — to compile these genealogies and make them publicly available.
I applaud Professors Wright and Sylla for their research and
writing efforts, which have made this project a reality. As a Columbia
University MBA, I am pleased to note that my alma mater has enthusi-
astically embraced this idea as well, and that this beautiful book has
been produced by Columbia Business School Publishing.
Now, if the Museum receives a research inquiry about past financial
firms, the staff is able to answer where that firm’s history fits into the
modern financial landscape. Or, better yet, people can access the infor-
mation themselves via this book or the Museum’s website.
This project sheds tremendous light into the dynamic nature of
our nation’s financial history. One can never completely understand
the future without a comprehension of the past. In an easy-to-read and
understandable manner, this book gives a narrative history that is
accessible to all — from the newcomer working at a bank to the finance
professional, from the student to the scholar, from the practitioner
to the regulator.
Please enjoy the book, as each chapter will transport you back in
time to see the birth and growth of these 50 financial institutions.
— Charles M. Royce
CEO, The Royce Funds
Foreword
vii
Overview of the Big 50
Headquarters Location
Portland, ME–44
Minneapolis–45 Boston–40, 41
Paramus, NJ–25
Providence, RI–38
Bridgeport, CT–22
Buffalo–21, 30
Detroit–1 Norwalk, CT–22
Chicago, Riverwoods–33, 18 Livingston, NJ–13 New York City–2, 3, 5, 6, 14,
Cleveland–29 17, 19, 23, 24,
Reno–27 Salt Lake City–50 Des Moines–37 Pittsburgh–35 28, 31, 32, 48
Columbus–26
San Francisco–12, 46, 49 Wilmington, DE–9
Cincinnati–20
Mclean, VA–11
Winston-Salem–7
Los Angeles–15 Tulsa–10
Birmingham–39 Atlanta–42
Columbus–43
Dallas–16
San Antonio–47 Houston–8
Honolulu–4
San Juan, PR–36
1 Ally Financial 18 Discover Financial 35 PNC Financial Services
2 American Express 19 E*Trade 36 Popular
3 American International Group 20 Fifth Third Bancorp 37 Principal Financial Group
4 BancWest 21 First Niagara 38 RBS-Citizens Financial
5 Bank of America 22 General Electric Capital 39 Regions Financial
6 Bank of New York Mellon 23 Goldman Sachs 40 Santander Holdings USA
7 BB&T 24 HSBC North America 41 State Street
8 BBVA Compass Bancshares 25 Hudson City Bancorp 42 SunTrust Banks
9 BMO Financial 26 Huntington Bancshares 43 Synovus Financial
10 BOK Financial 27 John Deere Capital 44 TD Bank US Holding
11 Capital One Financial 28 JPMorgan Chase 45 U.S. Bancorp
12 Charles Schwab 29 KeyCorp 46 UnionBanCal
13 CIT Group 30 M&T Bank 47 USAA
14 Citigroup 31 Morgan Stanley 48 Utrecht-America Holdings
15 City National 32 New York Community Bancorp 49 Wells Fargo
16 Comerica 33 Northern Trust 50 Zions Bancorporation
17 Deutsche Bank 34 People’s United Financial
Genealogy of American Finance
viii
Holding Company Location
Great Britain
Netherlands
Germany
France
Canada Spain
Japan
United States
Canada United States KeyCorp
BMO Financial Ally Financial M&T Bank
TD Bank US Holding American Express Morgan Stanley
American International Group New York Community Bancorp
France Bank of America Northern Trust
BancWest Bank of New York Mellon People’s United Financial
BB&T PNC Financial Services
germany BOK Financial Principal Financial Group
Deutsche Bank Capital One Financial Regions Financial
Charles Schwab State Street
Great Britain CIT Group SunTrust Banks
HSBC North America Citigroup Synovus Financial
RBS-Citizens Financial City National U.S. Bancorp
Comerica USAA
Japan Discover Financial Wells Fargo
UnionBanCal E*Trade Zions Bancorporation
Fifth Third Bancorp
Netherlands First Niagara
Utrecht-America Holdings General Electric Capital
Goldman Sachs
Spain Hudson City Bancorp
BBVA Compass Bancshares Huntington Bancshares
Popular John Deere Capital
Santander Holdings USA JPMorgan Chase
Overview of the Big 50 Banks
ix
