Ionian Bank

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The Ionian Bank was a British overseas bank that investors established in 1839 to operate in the Ionian Isles, then a British Protectorate. Thereafter, the bank expanded in Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean. During World War I, Ionian Bank served Allied military interests in the Balkans, opening branches at Salonika, Syra, Chios and Mitylene. However, during World War II, the Italians forcibly acquired IB's holdings in Popular Bank and ran it as an Italian bank for the duration. At the end of the War, IB regained its holdings. After losing its branches in Egypt to nationalization, IB retreated from the Mediterranean, selling all its operations there. Thereafter Michael Behrens and John Trusted acquired Ionian Bank, converting it into a merchant bank in London. It was never very successful and in 1977 it voluntarily gave up its banking license.

[edit] History

1839 A "decree of the Eminent Senate of the Commonwealth of Ionian Islands" established the Ionian State Bank, soon renamed Ionian Bank (IB) in Corfu to finance trade between the Ionian Islands (a British protectorate), and Great Britain. This makes the bank the oldest in Greece. The Bank received a 20-year grant of the exclusive privilege of issuing and circulating banknotes for the Ionian Islands.
1840 IB opened branches in Corfu, Zante and Cephalonia. The bank initially operated only in the Ionian Islands.
1844 IB received a UK Royal Charter.
1845 IB established agencies in Athens and Patras, and appointed special agents in Venice and Trieste.
1864 The Ionian Islands united with Greece. IB converted its agencies in Athens and Patras to full branches. (Possibly before 1864.) Thereafter, IB extended its operations to the rest of Greece.
1873 IB's Athens office took over as Head Office from the Corfu office.
1880 IB lost its legal monopoly position in the Islands, but gained an extension to its (no longer exclusive) right of note issue.
1883 IB gave up its Royal Charter and registered as a limited liability company.
1907 IB opened a branch in Alexandria, Egypt.
1920 The bank lost its privilege of note issue.
1922IB acquired the Constantinople branch of Guaranty Trust Co. of New York. (Possibly with a sub-branch or agency in Smyrna.)
1924 IB opened a representative office in New York. (The New York State Banking Department does not list this.)
1926 IB established a branch in Nicosia, Cyprus and next year agencies in Famagusta, Limassol and Larnaca.
1928 IB apparently closed its New York representative office.
1929 IB sold the branch in Constantinople to Deutsche Bank.
1938 Ionian Bank (IB) acquired more than two-thirds of the share capital of Popular Bank, (est. 1905).
1949 IB increased its holdings in Popular Bank to four-fifths of the capital.
1951 IB established a branch in Cairo, Egypt.
1957 IB sold its Greek assets to the Commercial Bank of Greece, which maintained IB as a separate entity, and its assets in Cyprus to the Chartered Bank. The Egyptian government established Bank Al-Goumhourieh to take over the Egyptian operations of Ionian Bank and the Ottoman Bank in the wake of the Suez Canal War. IB had provided cover for British Intelligence, but all British and French banks were Egyptianized at the same time. (Two directors of the bank, Sir Bickham Sweet-Escott and Robin Brooke, belonged to MI6.)
1958 The Greek IB became the Ionian and Popular Bank of Greece.

[edit] Sources

Ionian Bank (1953) Ionian Bank Limited: A History. (London).

Cottrell, P.L. (2002) Founding a multinational enterprise: Ionian Bank, 1833-1849, in P. Kostis, (ed.) The creators and creation of banking enterprises in Europe from the 18th to the 20th centuries. (Athens: Historical Archives, Alpha Bank).