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The Wharves of Halifax
Bermuda
During the winter of 1882, the bank's accountant, D.H. Duncan was stricken with a stubborn bout of rheumatism for which his doctor prescribed a month in sunny, semi-tropical Bermuda to convalesce. Thomas Kenny, the bank's president, sent Duncan off with instructions to open an agency of the bank if the conditions seemed favorable. Bermuda was the first stop for ships heading to the Caribbean from Halifax, an ideal location for the first international branch of a bank that earned good profits from financing the sea-going trade between Halifax and the Caribbean.
Before returning to Halifax, Duncan appointed N.A. Butterfield, the mayor of Hamilton and head of NT Butterfield & Son, as agent. The agency opened in March 1882. By 1884 the agency had returned a modest profit of £300, proof to Kenny that the bank's skill as a financier of trade could be exported. In the end, however, the agency did not prosper because of difficulties with the agent. The bank learned a valuable lesson in Bermuda - that in any further international expansion, foreign branches must be established and operated as extensions of the domestic branch system. Merchants' Bank sold its business to The Bank of Bermuda Ltd. and withdrew from Bermuda in 1889.
David H. Duncan was cashier of the Merchants' Bank of Halifax from 1882 to 1899. "Cashier" is the title banks in the 19th century gave to their general manager or chief executive officer. Duncan, trained in Scotland, brought to Merchants' Bank organizational skills and strict routines, which helped the bank expand its business and add new branches rapidly. Photo from the Notman Collection, courtesy of Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management.
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