African Banking Corporation
The African Banking Corporation was a British overseas bank; its headquarters were in London but all its branches were overseas. Unusually, it was a consortium bank, rather than being owned by individuals. It operated primarily in South Africa. In 1920 the bank was bought out and merged with Standard Bank of South Africa.
History
- In 1890 Lloyds Bank, National Provincial, Westminster, and Standard Bank of South Africa established the African Banking Corporation. ABC began its operations with a branch in Lagos, Nigeria.
- In 1891 ABC acquired a number of banks in South Africa : Western Province Bank, Kaffrarian Colonial Bank, and Worcester Commercial Bank. That same year, it also established a branch in Tangier.
- In 1892 ABC took over the banking operations in Lagos, Nigeria of shipping company Elder Dempster. George Neville of Elder Dempster became the branch manager, but within a year ABC wished to withdraw from Lagos.
- In 1893 ABC sold its branch in Lagos to the newly created Bank of British West Africa, established by A.L. Jones and Elder Dempster.
- In 1894 ABC transferred the branches in Lagos and Tangier to BBWA.
- In 1900, or possibly shortly thereafter, ABC established an agency in New York.
- In 1915 ABC established a branch in Lüderitz Bay, South-West Africa, as South Africa took over German South-West Africa, but closed it the next year.
- In 1920 ABC opened a branch in Windhoek, South-West Africa, but later that year Standard Bank of South Africa acquired ABC.