Toronto's "Big Five" Banks

Our banking guide covers Toronto's financial district broadly. Here's a more specific question: of the "Big Five" Canadian banks headquartered on Bay Street, which ones actually started in Toronto?

Two are Toronto through and through

The Bank of Toronto (established 1855) and the Dominion Bank (chartered 1869) merged on February 1, 1955 to form the Toronto-Dominion Bank, today headquartered at the Toronto-Dominion Centre, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Likewise, the Canadian Bank of Commerce (founded in Toronto in 1867) merged with the Toronto-founded Imperial Bank of Canada in 1961, forming CIBC — headquartered at Commerce Court, whose original 1931 tower was for years the tallest building in the British Empire.

Three are transplants

The other three moved to Toronto rather than starting there. The Bank of Nova Scotia was chartered in Halifax in 1832 and moved its general head office to Toronto in 1900 — but Scotiabank's registered legal address is still listed in Halifax today. Royal Bank of Canada began as the Merchants Bank of Halifax in 1864, renamed itself Royal Bank in 1901, and moved to Montreal in 1907, which remains its legal head office. Bank of Montreal, the oldest of the five, was chartered in Montreal in 1817 and kept its legal head office there, shifting its main operational headquarters to Toronto's First Canadian Place only in 1977.

Sources

• TD Bank — TD's History: Historical Fast Facts
• CIBC — Corporate History