National Westminster Bank USA

Last updated

National Westminster Bancorp, Inc.
Company typeSubsidiary undertaking
Industry Financial services
PredecessorNational Bank of North America
Founded1983;41 years ago (1983)
Defunct1996;28 years ago (1996)
SuccessorFleet Bank, N.A.
Headquarters
New York
,
United States
Parent National Westminster Bank Plc

National Westminster Bank USA, commonly known as NatWest USA, was a wholly owned subsidiary of National Westminster Bank in the United Kingdom from 1983 to 1996. Formed as the National Bank of North America in 1905, the U.S. retail banking operation was sold to Fleet Financial Group in 1996.

Contents

During its existence, National Westminster Bank USA was a commercial bank with a national charter and a member of the Federal Reserve System, supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

History

National Provincial Bank Limited first entered the United States with a branch in New York, shortly before merging with Westminster Bank Limited in 1970. [1]

National Bank of North America

The National Bank of North America was founded in New York in 1851. In 1970, it acquired Trade Bank and Trust Company and the First National Bank in Yonkers, followed by the National Bank of Far Rockaway in 1972. An offshoot of the CIT Financial Corporation, which bought the bank in 1966, it earned a record US$25 million profit in 1974. However, by 1975, profits had plummeted to US$14 million as a result of bad loans and earlier poor investment strategies, dropping to US$10.2 million in 1976. [2]

In 1978, the National Bank of North America's 141 branches were acquired by National Westminster Bank Ltd. for US$429 million. [3] A Delaware-registered holding company, NatWest Holdings, Inc., was formed to facilitate the purchase and, by 1986, net income had more than tripled to US$54.5 million. [4] Among other significant early developments was the acquisition of 16 branches from Bankers Trust Company in 1979, at a cost of US$11 million. [5]

To broaden the range of services provided a domestic factoring business, NatWest Commercial Services, Inc., commenced operations in New York and Philadelphia in 1982. The year also marked the opening of NBNA's international banking office in Miami through North America International Corporation, a subsidiary established under the provisions of the Edge Act. In 1983, the National Bank of North America was renamed National Westminster Bank USA. [6]

First Jersey National Bank

The First National Bank of Jersey City was formed in 1868, taking the name First Jersey National Bank in 1968. Following the US$820 million acquisition of First Jersey National Corporation in 1988, it became National Westminster Bancorp NJ. [7] National Westminster Bancorp, Inc. was subsequently organized as a holding company for National Westminster Bank USA and National Westminster Bank NJ. [8] Its headquarters were relocated to Jersey City, New Jersey in 1993. [9] After acquiring Citizens First Bancorp in 1994 and the Central Jersey Bank and Trust Company in 1995, National Westminster Bank USA merged with National Westminster Bank NJ under the name NatWest Bank, National Association.

NatWest Bank (Delaware), N.A. was also formed in 1995. It engaged principally in consumer lending on a nationwide basis, offering a full range of services including credit cards, lines of credit, installment loans, student loans and home equity loans. NatWest Services, Inc. in Scranton, Pennsylvania provided the operations and servicing facility for NatWest Bank, N.A. and NatWest Bank (Delaware). [10]

Having struggled without success to make the operation profitable, NatWest Bancorp was divested for US$2.5 billion in 1996; its 300 branch network merging with Fleet Bank of New York, N.A. to form Fleet Bank, N.A. [1] In 2002, it was incorporated into Fleet National Bank based in Providence, Rhode Island, before being merged into and subsequently operated as part of Bank of America, N.A. from 2005.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bank One Corporation</span> Former bank of the United States

Bank One Corporation was an American bank founded in 1968 and at its peak the sixth-largest bank in the United States. It traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol ONE. The company merged with JPMorgan Chase & Co. on July 1, 2004, with its CEO Jamie Dimon taking the lead at the combined company. The company had its headquarters in the Bank One Plaza in the Chicago Loop in Chicago, Illinois, now the headquarters of Chase's retail banking division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Bancorp</span> American bank holding company

U.S. Bancorp is an American bank holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and incorporated in Delaware. It is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association, and is the fifth largest banking institution in the United States. The company provides banking, investment, mortgage, trust, and payment services products to individuals, businesses, governmental entities, and other financial institutions. As of 2019, it had 3,106 branches and 4,842 automated teller machines, primarily in the Western and Midwestern United States. In 2023 it ranked 149th on the Fortune 500, and it is considered a systemically important bank by the Financial Stability Board. The company also owns Elavon, a processor of credit card transactions for merchants, and Elan Financial Services, a credit card issuer that issues credit card products on behalf of small credit unions and banks across the U.S.

Bank of the West was an American financial institution headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States. It had more than 600 branches and offices in the Midwest and Western United States.

FleetBoston Financial was a Boston, Massachusetts–based bank created in 1999 by the merger of Fleet Financial Group and BankBoston. In 2004 it merged with Bank of America; all of its banks and branches were converted to Bank of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BankBoston</span> Bank in Massachusetts, US; bought out

BankBoston was a bank based in Boston, Massachusetts, which was created by the 1996 merger of Bank of Boston and BayBank. One of its predecessor banks started in 1784, but the merged BankBoston was short-lived, being acquired by FleetBoston Financial in 1999. In 2005, FleetBoston was purchased by, and merged into, Bank of America of Charlotte, North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Citizens Financial Group</span> Eastern U.S. bank

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is an American bank holding company, headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. The company owns the bank Citizens Bank, N.A., which operates in the U.S. states of Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia, as well as Washington, DC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National City Corp.</span> American bank and part of National City Corp

National City Corporation was a regional bank holding company based in Cleveland, Ohio, founded in 1845; it was once one of the ten largest banks in America in terms of deposits, mortgages and home equity lines of credit. Subsidiary National City Mortgage is credited for doing the first mortgage in America. The company operated through an extensive banking network primarily in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Wisconsin, and also served customers in selected markets nationally. Its core businesses included commercial and retail banking, mortgage financing and servicing, consumer finance, and asset management. The bank reached out to customers primarily through mass advertising and offered comprehensive banking services online. In its last years, the company was commonly known in the media by the abbreviated NatCity, with its investment banking arm even bearing the official name NatCity Investments.

TD Banknorth, formerly Banknorth, was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Toronto-Dominion Bank which conducted banking and insurance activities, primarily serving the northeastern area of the United States, headquartered in Portland, Maine. The bank became TD Bank, N.A. on May 31, 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Bank of Detroit</span> Defunct American commercial bank

The National Bank of Detroit (NBD), later renamed NBD Bank, was a bank that operated mostly in the Midwestern United States. Following its merger with First National Bank of Chicago, the bank was ultimately acquired and merged into Bank One, at which point the NBD name was discontinued. Today, what was once NBD is owned by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cathay Bank</span> Chinese American bank

Cathay Bank is an Chinese American bank founded in 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flagstar Bank</span> American bank

Flagstar Bank is an American commercial bank headquartered in Troy, Michigan. A wholly owned subsidiary of New York Community Bank, Flagstar is one of the largest residential mortgage servicers in the United States, and was among the largest banks in the United States prior to its acquisition in 2022.

Valley National Bancorp, doing business as Valley Bank, is a regional bank holding company headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey, with approximately $64 billion in assets. Its principal subsidiary, Valley National Bank, currently operates over 230 branch locations and commercial banking offices across New Jersey, New York, Florida, Alabama, California, and Illinois. Valley Bank is one of the largest commercial banks headquartered in New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York Community Bank</span> US Bank

New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYCB), headquartered in Hicksville, New York, is a bank holding company for Flagstar Bank. In 2023, the bank operated 395 branches in New York, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Florida, Arizona and Wisconsin. Branches used to be operated under the names Queens County Savings Bank, Roslyn Savings Bank, Richmond County Savings Bank, Roosevelt Savings Bank, and Atlantic Bank in New York; Garden State Community Bank in New Jersey; Ohio Savings Bank in Ohio; and AmTrust Bank in Arizona and Florida. However, they rebranded all of these under the Flagstar name on February 21, 2024. NYCB is on the list of largest banks in the United States and is one of the largest lenders in the New York City metro area.

Hudson City Bancorp, Inc., based in Paramus, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, was a bank-holding company for Hudson City Savings Bank, its only subsidiary, then the largest savings bank in New Jersey and one of the oldest banks in the United States, with US$50 billion in assets. It is now a fully publicly held entity and a member S&P 500 stock market Index. In 2005, its US$3.93 billion secondary offering of common stock was the largest in United States banking history. At the time, it was also the seventh largest domestic public offering in United States history The bank avoided the excesses of the housing boom and was labeled "best bank of 2007" by Forbes. M&T Bank agreed to acquire Hudson City on August 27, 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commerce Bancorp</span> Former American bank

Commerce Bancorp was a Cherry Hill, New Jersey–based bank created in 1973. In 2007, it was purchased by Toronto-Dominion Bank, which merged Commerce with TD Banknorth to form TD Bank, N.A.; all of its banks and branches were given the TD Bank logo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NatWest</span> British retail and commercial bank

National Westminster Bank, trading as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, it became part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, which was re-named NatWest Group in 2020. Following ringfencing of the group's core domestic business, the bank became a direct subsidiary of NatWest Holdings; NatWest Markets comprises the non-ringfenced investment banking arm. The British government currently owns 35% of NatWest Group after spending £45 billion bailing out the lender in 2008; the proportion at one point was 54.7%. NatWest International is a trading name of RBS International, which also sits outside the ringfence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Westminster Bank</span> Subsidiary of National Westminster Bank which existed from 1913 to 1989

International Westminster Bank was a wholly-owned subsidiary of National Westminster Bank and its predecessors from 1913 to 1989, with branches in London, France, Spain and West Germany.

Investors Bank was a publicly traded, full-service bank that was based in Short Hills, New Jersey, USA. The bank operated over 150 branches across New Jersey and New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NatWest Markets</span> Investment banking arm of NatWest Group

NatWest Markets plc is the investment banking arm of NatWest Group based in the United Kingdom.

OceanFirst Bank, N.A. is a regional bank subsidiary of the U.S. financial services holding company OceanFirst Financial Corp founded and headquartered in Ocean County, New Jersey, with operations throughout New Jersey, and in the major metropolitan markets of Philadelphia, New York City, Baltimore, and Boston.

References

  1. 1 2 Tschoegl, Adrian E. Foreign Banks in the United States Since World War II: A Useful Fringe Archived November 6, 2015, at the Wayback Machine (pp. 24-25) The Wharton Financial Institutions Center, University of Pennsylvania (00-42), November 2000
  2. Bennett, Robert A. NAT WEST DOES THE UNEXPECTED The New York Times, September 18, 1983
  3. Pohl, Manfred (ed.) Handbook on the History of European Banks (European Association for Banking History) (pp. 1158-1159) Aldershot: Edward Elgar, 1994
  4. Berg, Eric N. NATWEST USA CLIMBS BACK The New York Times, March 19, 1986
  5. Report and Accounts (p. 15), National Westminster Bank Limited, 1979
  6. Report and Accounts (p. 22), National Westminster Bank Plc, 1982
  7. NATWEST ACQUIRING FIRST JERSEY NATIONAL IN $820 MILLION BANK MERGER The Associated Press, August 5, 1987
  8. Jones, Geoffrey British Multinational Banking 18301990 (p. 141) Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1993
  9. NatWest relocates head office to N.J. (National Westminster Bancorp; Jersey City, New Jersey) American Banker, January 12, 1993
  10. Report and Accounts (p. 8), National Westminster Bank Plc, 1995