Chemical Bank Company History Timeline

1917

New York Times, May 22, 1917.) The chief assets of her estate were stocks and bonds, including 704 shares of United Fruit Company. (Mrs.

First the bank stopped losing customers, then, between September and December 1917, deposits rose from $35 million to $63 million.

They found strength outside Chemical, luring a young Kentucky banker, Percy H. Johnston, to Chemical in 1917.

Expansion under a new president When Chemical's president, Joseph B. Martindale, died in 1917 and was replaced by Herbert K. Twitchell, the Board of Directors was so concerned about the Bank's future that it launched an intensive search for new leadership.

1918

Joseph Walker Sr. died in 1918. (75th Anniversary For Walker & Sons.

He remained identified with the cables as a director of the International." He was a trustee of the Union Trust, then of the Central Union Trust from the 1918 merger until his death.

In 1918 it merged with the Bank of the Metropolis and thus acquired the first of many branch offices.

1920

He set up a trust department and engineered Chemical's first merger, in 1920, with Citizens National Bank, a small but wealthy New York commercial bank.

Chase Manhattan establishes a representative office in Moscow, the first United States bank to have a business presence there since the 1920s.

1923

In 1923 Chemical established its first branch bank.

He graduated from Harvard in 1923. (Caspar C. de Gersdorff.

Following the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake that devastated Tokyo and the city of Yokohama, J.P. Morgan & Co. leads a $150 million loan, part of an ambitious reconstruction plan.

1927

In 1927 Guaranty Trust offers the first ADR for sale for U.K. retailer Selfridges Stores.

1928

In 1928, the Bank moved closer to the financial district, opening headquarters at 165 Broadway.

1929

By then Chemical had 12 branches in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and in 1929 it opened its first overseas office, in London.

The bank was reincorporated as a state bank in 1929 under the name Chemical Bank & Trust Company because New York State granted broader trust powers than were available to national banks.

Also in 1929, Johnston established two affiliates.

1930

In 1930 The Bank of The Manhattan Company purchases them from one of Church's descendants.

Chase National merges with Equitable Trust Company in 1930, combining their extensive overseas branch networks and making Chase the world’s largest bank.

1934

The staff continued to grow in number, and the first pension plan was created by the Bank in 1934.

1940

In 1940, J.P.Morgan reorganized from a private partnership to a public company, with Jack as its first chairman.

1941

In 1941 the Quarter Century Club was organized for long-time employees, with 117 founding members.

In 1941, at the start of World War II, Chemical's deposits reached the billion-dollar mark for the first time.

1944

23, 1944.) His father was Doctor Ernst Bruno de Gersdorff, and his mother was Caroline Choate. (Obituary Notes.

1945

Chemical also bought government bonds for its own portfolio that amounted to $800 million by 1945.

1946

In 1946 Johnston retired, and the following year Chairman Baxter Johnson and President Harold Helm brought about a merger with Continental Bank and Trust Company.

At the war's end, Percy Johnston also prepared to retire, since he would reach the mandatory retirement age of 65 in 1946.

1947

When Frank K. Houston retired as chairman in 1947, N. Baxter Jackson was appointed chairman and Harold H. Helm became the president of the Bank.

1948

27, 1948.) He was president of Walker & Co., book publishers, when he remarried to Evelyn Bready. (Evelyn E. Bready Is Married To Samuel Sloan Walker Jr.

That same year, Chemical's total deposits reached $1,296,051,829, and they increased by more than $225 million in 1948, when the Bank acquired the Continental Bank & Trust Company of New York.

1949

Connections with mainland China are reinvigorated the same year when Chase Manhattan becomes the first American correspondent of the Bank of China since the 1949 revolution.

1951

In 1951 Chemical acquired the National Safety Bank and Trust Company, a mid-sized bank with strong ties to the garment industry and deposits of $100 million.

1955

In 1955, the Bank of the Manhattan Company merged with Chase National Bank, the third largest in the United States, to form Chase Manhattan Bank.

1958

Chemical International Finance, Inc., Chemical's first Edge Act company, was established in 1958.

The Marine Corporation in Wisconsin, a Bank One predecessor, is the first bank holding company in the United States, founded in 1958.

1959

Also in 1959, Chemical merged with New York Trust Company, which had a large trust and wholesale-banking business.

In 1959, London became the site of Chemical's first foreign branch.

In 1959, Chase Manhattan Bank installed an IBM 650 computer, which enabled the staff to process transactions at lightning speed.

1960

On November 21st, 1960, the new logo was unveiled, one of the first abstract logos used in banking.

1961

The Bank's first Nassau County office opened in 1961 in Massapequa.

1962

His son, Caspar Crowninshield de Gersdorff, was a partner in the investment firm of Harris, Upham & Company for 30 years, and retired in 1962.

1969

New York Times, May 30, 1969.) The New York Diabetes Association was funded by $15,000 from former Rep.

After successive mergers and name changes, the bank assumed the name Chemical Bank in 1969, when it became part of the holding company Chemical New York Corporation.

Its reorganization as the Chase Manhattan Corporation in 1969 reflected a general movement in American banking to establish holding companies to own banking operations that were separate from other operations such as finance companies, which were by law excluded from the purview of banking.

Chemical installed its first ATM in its Rockville Centre branch in 1969.

In 1969, Manufacturers Hanover and Chemical Bank are among the founding issuers of the Master Charge Plan, today’s Master Card.

1971

In 1971 the company was internally restructured to decentralize the activities of the bank and clearly mark out areas of responsibility.

Technological improvements to the ATM and added functionality, such as making deposits and transfers, are rolled out beginning in 1971.

In 1971, the same department unveiled its head turning 'Any Car' campaign, showcasing a vehicle created from the parts of 22 different cars.

1972

Helm was succeeded by William S. Renchard, who served as chairman until 1972 and under whose leadership Chemical's overseas branch expansion began in earnest.

The card is soon renamed Uni-Card and in 1972 joins the national BankAmericard System, the precursor to Visa.

1974

In 1974, David Rockefeller, chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank, establishes the Chase Manhattan Bank Archives in an effort to preserve the legacy of his firm.

1975

In 1975 Chemical acquired Security National Bank, with its large Long Island branch network.

1977

26, 1977.) Samuel Sloan Walker 3d also graduated from Yale.

Chemical's international operations grew significantly in the late 1960s and early 1970s under the leadership of Donald C. Platten (the grandson of former president John W. Platten). Platten became president in 1972 and chairman in 1973. It also expanded its international operations by purchasing a 30 percent interest in a London merchant bank in 1977 and participating in several ventures with financial institutions in Austria, the Philippines, and other countries.

1980

In 1980 Platten and Chemical President Norborne Berkeley began restructuring the company's nonconsumer banking operations.

1982

Renchard retired as chairman and Donald C. Platten, who had headed the International Division, became the new CEO. At the same time, Norborne Berkeley Jr. was appointed president, a position he held until he retired and was succeeded by Walter V. Shipley on January 1, 1982.

In 1982 Chemical made its first move to establish a corporate image.

In 1982 the bank also introduced Pronto, an electronic home banking system for consumers and small businesses.

In 1982 the Bank unveiled Pronto, the first electronic home banking and information service, enabling customers to use a personal computer to do most of their banking at home.

1983

Platten, who served as chairman until he retired in 1983, Chemical became a stronger institution.

1984

Platten as chairman in 1984, three men were named to serve jointly as president -- former senior executive vice presidents Robert J. Callander, Robert I. Lipp and Thomas S. Johnson.

1985

And in 1985 Chemical, AT&T, Bank of America, and Time, Inc., formed a joint venture called Covidea to provide electronic services.

In 1985 the Bank helped found the first major automated cash machine network in the New York metropolitan area.

1986

In 1986 Chemical celebrated its tenth consecutive year of earnings growth by announcing another merger agreement, again with a company whose market was outside Chemical's traditional sphere of operations.

1987

The corporation acquired Texas Commerce Bancshares, Inc., in 1987.

1989

The merger finally took place in January 1989, and Horizon was renamed Chemical Bank New Jersey.

1991

After successive mergers and name changes, the bank assumed the name Chemical Bank in 1969, when it became part of the holding company Chemical New York Corporation. Its 1991 merger with Manufacturers Hanover Corporation represented one of the largest United States bank mergers up to that time.

1992

In 1992 it decided to abandon that market and sold its upstate branches to Fleet Bank of New York.

1993

The new institution retained the Chemical name, but it would initially be headed by Manufacturers chairman John McGillicuddy, who under the terms of the merger served as chairman and CEO of the new Chemical through the end of 1993, after which Shipley took over.

In 1993 Chemical had received permission from the Federal Reserve to underwrite corporate bonds, and the bank aimed to become a major underwriter of below-investment-grade debt within a few years.

1995

Early in 1995 it sold 84 branches in southern and central New Jersey to PNC Bank Corp. for $504 million.

1996

In 1996 the firm, which was by then the second-largest bank in the United States, merged with another New York bank, The Chase Manhattan Corporation, to form what became the largest bank in the nation.

1998

First Chicago NBD introduces a free Internet bank in 1998.

2004

Although the original design featured multiple colors and patterns, in 2004 the solid blue octagon was adopted.

2010

In 2010, the firm acquired the successful British investment bank, Cazenove.

2018

Building on its original investment, the firm expands the program in 2018 with a new five-year $350-million commitment.

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Founded
1917
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Chemical Bank is 106 years old.

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Chemical Bank may also be known as or be related to Chemical Bank, Chemical Financial Advisors, Chemical Financial Corporation and Shoreline Bank.