Which Canadian bank, founded in 1817, is the country’s oldest bank still operating?

The Bank of Montreal is Canada’s oldest bank still operating, having been founded in 1817.

It was established in Montreal by a group of merchants who wanted a dependable institution for financing trade and handling payments. The bank opened for business on 3 November 1817, making it one of the earliest permanent banks in British North America.

The institution later expanded across Canada and became known by the abbreviation BMO. Its modern headquarters are in Montreal and Toronto, while its U.S. operations include BMO Bank N.A. The bank’s long history is often confused with that of the Royal Bank of Canada, which is larger today but was founded later, in 1864.

Canada’s banking system developed differently from that of the United States: a smaller number of nationwide banks became dominant, rather than thousands of separate state-chartered banks. That structure helped the Bank of Montreal survive many changes in Canadian financial history.