OT-Why are there so many First National banks?

[Anonymous]

All the places i have been all have a First National Bank,,,So can someone here tell me does that mean that the bank was the first in that region to get a charter from the Feds or What?[?] Like they cant all be First? Or can they?

[lonewoof]

Just like "First Baptist Church of XXX". They're FNBank of Kumquat, Iowa or whereever.

[Anonymous]

The US Congress passed the National Bank Act in the 1860s to create the unified banking system we know today. Banks using the phrase "National Bank" in their name had to meet certain requirements and be chartered under the act. There were still banks chartered under state laws and they had their own regulations .

Only one could be chartered using the name "First National Bank of Anytown" obviously though there could be any number of National Banks in town.

Wayne

[DSchmitt]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Muddy Creek

The US Congress passed the National Bank Act in the 1860s to create the unified banking system we know today. Banks using the phrase "National Bank" in their name had to meet certain requirements and be chartered under the act. There were still banks chartered under state laws and they had their own regulations .

Only one could be chartered using the name "First National Bank of Anytown" obviously though there could be any number of National Banks in town.

Wayne

The First National Bank of "A" was not the same as the First National Bank of "B" The name of the town in which the bank had its primary offices was often used, but it didn't have to be a town. For instance the First National Bank of Commerce was a large miltibranch bank in Washington.

Until fairly recently banks (1970's?) whether State chartered or nationally chartered, banks were only allowed to operate within one State.

Until the rule waschanged, Washington's First National Bank of Commerce was the only multistate bank. It had a few branches in Idaho that had existed before the one State rule. (I don't know when the rule was made). My dad started with them as an office boy, at an Idaho branch, during the 1930's. He was chief bookeeper for the for the company when he left in the 1950's.

Now of course many banks are multistate.

[BentnoseWillie]

I don't know how y'all keep track of all these banks...we have fewer than 10 nationwide...[:)]

[Anonymous]

I was always most interested in some of the odd ones. For example there is a "Fifth Third Bank" in the Chicago area I understand. I always wondered how that came to be. Perhaps a takeover of the Third Bank by the Fifth Bank???

LC

[corwinda]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Limitedclear

I was always most interested in some of the odd ones. For example there is a "Fifth Third Bank" in the Chicago area I understand. I always wondered how that came to be. Perhaps a takeover of the Third Bank by the Fifth Bank???

LC

Maybe it was originally at the corner of fifth and third.[:D]

[Anonymous]

Fifth Third was a Cinci based bank or actualy a S&L that Startted at 5th and 3rd in Cinci OH

[Big_Boy_4005]

Who wants to be second in anything? They might as well call themselves the OTHER national bank if they can't be first.

[mudchicken]

tf22: Fifth Third was a merger of two banks in Cincy in 1908 after a bank panic and Fifth National wore the pants in that family......if you wander around downtown and look up around 4th & Walnut, you'll see there was also a Sixth National Bank in Cincy.

Or are you ever allowed to wander south out of Warren County?

[Anonymous]

Wasn't the Second National Bank of Gotham City frequently robbed on the old Batman TV Series??

LC

[Anonymous]

I think if I was to start a bank I would name it the 69th National Bank, just to avoid any confusion...LOL...

LC

[mudchicken]

Way to go brudda LC, take the moral low ground! How about Last National Bank![:O][:O][:O]

MC

[athelney]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BentnoseWillie

I don't know how y'all keep track of all these banks...we have fewer than 10 nationwide...[:)]

Never seen a First National in this part of Canada -- maybe thats the answer -- just come here!!!!

[Anonymous]

and he notes -

Banks with "National" in their name weren't always "First " or "Second'" as the case may be in Podunkville. We had an Indian Head National Bank in my home town as well as a Second National. There was also a First Federal Credit Union and a local Trust Company. I think the name had a lot to do with image as well as regulations

There was a First National supermarket though. Maybe the bank had to take second place... [

[BNSFNUT]

I think many new banks tried to get the word National in thair name to as prestige to thair name. I think many just picked the name before there was much regulations on names.
I have seen many First National of and The National Bank of this or that city.
This remindes me of the early days of railroading, when many RRs added the word Pacific to thair name. They might only run from Podunk to North Stump but would still br chartered as the Podunk North Stump and Pacific.

[jeaton]

As for the Fifth/Third, I have always said that the Third Bank collapsed 4 times in some sort of financial panic and this was just the latest incarnation. Give them credit for perseverance.

Disclaimer: This is a forum and gospel truth is not mandatory. It is recommended that you DO NOT run to the Fifth/Third and close your accounts.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jeaton

As for the Fifth/Third, I have always said that the Third Bank collapsed 4 times in some sort of financial panic and this was just the latest incarnation. Give them credit for perseverance.

Disclaimer: This is a forum and gospel truth is not mandatory. It is recommended that you DO NOT run to the Fifth/Third and close your accounts.

WAIT a minute! If the Fifth National Bank collapsed 4 times...

5-4=1 So isn't it back to the 1st National bank again??

This is making my head hurt. I gotta check my direct deposit again...

LC

[Junctionfan]

I wonder if they will eventually have a 33rd National Bank. What happens if there are banks that registered abit late; do they become 2nd and a quarter National Bank?

[CShaveRR]

BankOne (recently merged out of existence) used to be the First National Bank of Chicago.

In over thirty years locally, we've been through four bank names without moving any accounts--and that's on each of two banks, the one we have for our checking account and the one we have for our mortgage. My dear wife still can't get the name of one of them right: she often says "Third Fifth", which suggests some highly inebriated tellers!

[Anonymous]

Hmmmm. Does Fifth Third give gifts? How 'bout a fifth of Bourbon on your third anniversary as an account holder?

LC

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CShaveRR

BankOne (recently merged out of existence) used to be the First National Bank of Chicago.

I happen to work for BankOne and we are very much still here. I got paid today and my check did indeed say BankOne. It will be some time before you no longer see us!

[jeaton]

By the way, and just so this thread isn't deleted because it is so far off the primary purpose of the forum, banks do have business connections of various kinds with railroads. OK, Bergie?

(one of the Monty Pithon characters pops up and says this has gotten too silly. Delete!)

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BNSFNUT

I think many new banks tried to get the word National in thair name to as prestige to thair name. I think many just picked the name before there was much regulations on names.
I have seen many First National of and The National Bank of this or that city.

I believe the Banking Act of 1863 required a bank to be Federally chartered in order to use the word "National" in its name.

Wayne

[Anonymous]

My parents bank at Fifth Third. Their sign lists their name as a fraction, or 5/3. You can take that as an improper fraction and convert it to mixed numbers making it 1and two thirds national bank, meaning for every one percent of interest they give you, they take two thirds of every deposit you make. Or, convert it into a decimal by taking five divided by three, which gives you 1.66, or what you actually get paid in interest on your savings account there after taxes. Realistically though, the bank that fifth third replaced was predecessed by at least 5 other banks in the same building. I dont know how you can rely on a bank that cant simplify a fraction though...wierd.

Matt

BTW, yes, banks do work with, for, and against railroads (just so I dont get banned).

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Muddy Creek

QUOTE: Originally posted by BNSFNUT

I think many new banks tried to get the word National in thair name to as prestige to thair name. I think many just picked the name before there was much regulations on names.
I have seen many First National of and The National Bank of this or that city.

I believe the Banking Act of 1863 required a bank to be Federally chartered in order to use the word "National" in its name.

Wayne

GEEZ! Wayne, I didn't know they had lawyers in the frozen north...

Got an address? I'll mail you my NYS Banking Dept pen I got from the State Fair...

LC

[fuzzybroken]

Around Milwaukeeland, we had First Wisconsin Bank, which became Firstar Bank (ironic because that was even before it bought Star Bank), which bought First Bank Southeast, and then merged into US Bank, which at one time was also called First Bank. And it's been interesting watching the signs change on Wisconsin's tallest building.

Down in Indiana, there was a First Bank that had a script "First" on a shield... neat logo. Is it still in existence? I haven't been down that way for a while.

Down in Racine, there was a bank called Heritage Bank, owned by SC Johnson, which recently became Johnson Bank. Imagine my surprise when I visited my sister in Tennessee and found another Heritage Bank!

And how many Citizens Banks are there? (e.g. Citizens Bank of Mukwonago) Or Farmers/Merchants/Farmers & Merchants?

Most of all, don't forget First Union, which runs spiffy SD40-2s by way of First Union Rail. [swg]

-Mark
http://www.geocities.com/fuzzybroken

[Anonymous]

We used to have Citizens Savings Bank, but M&T ate them...

LC

[DSchmitt]

Regarding "National" in a banks name, see Muddy Creeks post. It was legal in the US for a bank to use "National" in their name only if they are chartered by the US government. I don't know what the law is today.

There used to be Banks, Savings and Loan,and Credit Unions. They operated under different regulations and performed different functions. For instance S&L's were more restricted in the types of loans they could make (basically home related loans only).The distinction between Banks and S&L's has been elimenated. Banks with "saving" in their name usually were S&L's originally.

Credit Unions are still a membership institution for people who meet the qualifications of being in a defined group, although the group definitions are often very broad.

One of the first multistate banks was First Interstate. It was not really one bank, but an association of banks chartered in each individual state in which it operated.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Limitedclear


GEEZ! Wayne, I didn't know they had lawyers in the frozen north...

Got an address? I'll mail you my NYS Banking Dept pen I got from the State Fair...

LC

No lawyers here abouts. Up here in the Northwoods we've just learned to do things for ourselves. Build cabins, skin bears, charter banks.

We did have a lawyer up here but he left. It got so cold he found his hands in his own pockets.

(Sorry to my lawyer friends.)[:D]

Wayne