What is the name of the oldest continuously operating bank in Canada?

“What is the name of the oldest continuously operating bank in Canada?” The answer is the Bank of Montreal. Founded in Montreal in 1817, it is widely recognized as Canada’s oldest bank still operating.

The institution began as the Montreal Bank, established by nine local merchants to provide a more dependable source of credit and currency for a growing commercial city. It opened its first premises on St. Paul Street on November 3, 1817.

The bank received a royal charter in 1822 and expanded as Canada’s economy developed. It helped finance canals, railways and other nation-building projects, including the Canadian Pacific transcontinental railway. Its notes circulated widely before the Bank of Canada began issuing federal currency in 1935.

The Bank of Montreal is commonly branded BMO, short for Bank of Montreal. It should not be confused with the Bank of Canada, which is the country’s central bank and was created in 1935, more than a century later.