Which Australian bank, founded in 1817, was the country’s first bank?

The Bank of New South Wales, founded in 1817, was Australia’s first bank.

It was established in Sydney when the colony of New South Wales was still under British rule. The bank’s creation reflected the growing need for organized credit, deposits, and payments in a developing colonial economy. It began with a small number of employees and operated under a charter from the colonial government.

The institution expanded beyond New South Wales during the nineteenth century and later became known as the Wales. It merged with the Commercial Bank of Australia in 1982, creating the modern Westpac Banking Corporation. The name Westpac combines “Western” and “Pacific,” reflecting the bank’s regional ambitions.

A common mix-up is to confuse Australia’s first bank with the Commonwealth Bank, which was founded much later, in 1911, as a government-owned institution. The Bank of New South Wales was a commercial bank created nearly a century earlier.