Laurentian Bank of Canada
Encyclopedia
The Laurentian Bank of Canada (LBC)
is a Schedule I bank in the province of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

. (It also has one branch in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

). LBC's Institution Number (or bank number) is 039.

History

LBC 's history began in 1846 with the founding of the Banque d'Épargne de la Cité et du District, or Montreal City and District Savings Bank, by Monseigneur Ignace Bourget
Ignace Bourget
Ignace Bourget was a French-Canadian Roman Catholic priest who held the title of Bishop of Montreal from 1840 to 1876. Born in Lévis, Quebec in 1799, Bourget entered the clergy at an early age, undertook several courses of religious study, and in 1837 was named co-adjutor bishop of the newly...

 and a group of 15 prominent people from Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

. The bank’s 60 honorary directors included Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine
Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine
Sir Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine , 1st Baronet, KCMG was the first Canadian to become Prime Minister of the United Province of Canada and the first head of a responsible government in Canada. He was born in Boucherville, Lower Canada in 1807...

, Louis-Joseph Papineau
Louis-Joseph Papineau
Louis-Joseph Papineau , born in Montreal, Quebec, was a politician, lawyer, and the landlord of the seigneurie de la Petite-Nation. He was the leader of the reformist Patriote movement before the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837–1838. His father was Joseph Papineau, also a famous politician in Quebec...

 and Sir George-Étienne Cartier
George-Étienne Cartier
Sir George-Étienne Cartier, 1st Baronet, PC was a French-Canadian statesman and Father of Confederation.The English spelling of the name, George, instead of Georges, the usual French spelling, is explained by his having been named in honour of King George III....

.

The institution was created to provide the working class with a means for saving. The bank accepted all deposits between one shilling
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...

 and 500 pounds sterling, and at the end of its first fiscal year, the Montreal City and District Savings Bank managed over 500 active accounts and held total deposits of £29,350.

In 1972, it became the first chartered bank in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 to link all its branches to a central computer. This connection enabled the bank to process savings account transactions, personal loan files and term deposits "on-line".

Legislative revisions in 1975 allowed the Bank to open a branch in Granby, Quebec
Granby, Quebec
Granby is a city in southwestern Quebec, located east of Montreal. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 47,637. Granby is the seat of La Haute-Yamaska Regional County Municipality. It is the fifth most populated city in Montérégie after Longueuil, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Brossard and...

, its first branch outside the Montreal region. In 1980, the Montreal City and District Savings Bank obtained the right to expand its operations throughout Canada. This expansion led to the institution listing its shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange
Toronto Stock Exchange
Toronto Stock Exchange is the largest stock exchange in Canada, the third largest in North America and the seventh largest in the world by market capitalisation. Based in Canada's largest city, Toronto, it is owned by and operated as a subsidiary of the TMX Group for the trading of senior equities...

 three years later. And in 1987, the bank was renamed Laurentian Bank of Canada, following its acquisition by the Laurentian Group Corporation.

In 2001, two branches in Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

 were sold to Canadian Western Bank
Canadian Western Bank
The Canadian Western Bank is a bank that is based in Edmonton, and which operates primarily in western Canada. The bank serves personal and commercial clients in Western Canada.-History:...

.

In 2003, it sold most of its branches outside of Quebec to TD Bank Financial Group. This included 57 retail branches with a $2 billion loan portfolio and $1.9 billion in deposits. TD paid $112.5 million.

In June 2009, it won a contract to operate bank machines
Automated teller machine
An automated teller machine or automatic teller machine, also known as a Cashpoint , cash machine or sometimes a hole in the wall in British English, is a computerised telecommunications device that provides the clients of a financial institution with access to financial transactions in a public...

 in Montreal's subway system
Montreal Metro
The Montreal Metro is a rubber-tired metro system, and the main form of public transportation underground in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada....

. It will install 44 new machines that operate under other banners in addition to 26 already in place. The 70 machines will cover 63 different subway stations.

Mergers

The bank merged with Eaton Trust Company (in 1988), purchased Standard Trust assets (1991), acquired La Financière Coopérants Prêts-Épargne Inc., and Guardian Trust Company in Ontario (1992), acquired General Trust Corporation in Ontario, and purchased some Société Nationale de Fiducie assets and the brokerage firm BLC Rousseau (1993).

In 1993, the Desjardins-Laurentian Financial Corporation became the new majority shareholder of Laurentian Bank of Canada, following the merging of the Laurentian Group Corporation with the Desjardins Group. The bank purchased the Manulife Bank of Canada
Manulife Bank of Canada
The Manulife Bank of Canada is a Schedule I federally-chartered bank and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Manufacturer’s Life Insurance Company of Canada . It was established on January 1, 1993, when Cabot Trust Company, Huronia Trust Company and the Regional Trust Company were merged by Manulife...

’s banking service network and the assets of Prenor Trust Company of Canada in 1994.

In 1995, the Bank acquired 30 branches of the North American Trust Company.

In 1996, one of its subsidiaries acquired the parent corporation of Trust Prêt et Revenu du Canada. A few months later, the withdrawal of its main shareholder – Desjardins-Laurentian Financial Corporation – prompted the Laurentian Bank to become a Schedule I Bank under the Bank Act, on a par with all the other large Canadian banks.

Membership

LBC is a member of the Canadian Bankers Association
Canadian Bankers Association
The Canadian Bankers Association is a financial lobbying group that works on behalf of 52 domestic banks, foreign bank subsidiaries and foreign bank branches operating in Canada and their 267,000 employees. The CBA was organized in Montreal in 1891, making it one of Canada’s oldest interest...

 (CBA) and registered member with the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation
Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation
-External links:*** Official CDIC site*...

 (CDIC), a federal agency insuring deposits at all of Canada's chartered banks. It is also a member of Interac
Interac
Interac Association is a Canadian organization linking enterprises that have proprietary networks so that they may communicate with each other for the purpose of exchanging electronic financial transactions. The Association was founded in 1984 as a cooperative venture between five financial...

.

Headquarters

Laurentian Bank of Canada

Laurentian Bank Tower

1981 McGill College avenue

Montreal (Quebec) Canada

External links




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