Canara Bank marks 100 years of success

BANGALORE: From a house-cum-makeshift centre to over 2,400 branches. From a first-year deposit aggregate of Rs. 42,400 to a staggering Rs. 86,300 crore. From an employee base of four to an astounding 2400-plus.

Mind-boggling statistics have always marked the Canara Bank legacy. However, when the bank steps into its centenary year today, it’s more a tradition of trust than a set figures which embellishes the success story.

When it was founded in 1906, the bank was headquartered in Mangalore. Now the headquarters has shifted to Bangalore and the bank has spread its network far and wide; it now has over 2,400 branches.

The Canara Bank was founded in 1906 by Ammembal Subba Rao Pai, then known as Canara Hindu Permanent Fund Ltd., and had four employees. In a year’s time, the bank had a deposit amount of Rs. 42,400. In 1910, the firm was renamed Canara Bank. It was nationalised in 1969. Now it has over Rs. 86,300 crore as deposits and around 50,000 employees.

Canara Bank has many firsts to its credit. It was the first public sector bank to obtain ISO certification. This certification was granted to one of its branches in Bangalore in 1994. It was also the first to bag the FICCI award for rural development. Its first stand-alone ATM was installed in 1987 and it was the first public sector bank to have inter and intra city ATM network in 1996.

All branches of Canara Bank are fully computerised. The bank also offers Internet and mobile banking, as well as ‘anywhere banking’. Its foreign business covers services relating to exports, imports, remittances trough its overseas branches, subsidiary, representative offices and drawing agreements.

The bank has been promoting self-employment-training institutes across the country and encouraging entrepreneurship development among women.