1910 - 1925

Filling in the Map: Growth by Amalgamation

Union Bank of Canada

Union Bank of Canada emblem

Beginning under a provincial charter as the Union Bank of Lower Canada in 1865, the Union Bank remained in Quebec City until 1912 when it relocated its head office to Winnipeg. In 1886, the bank's name was changed to "Union Bank of Canada."

The Union Bank of Canada's legacy was its distinction as the first bank to provide an extensive branch system throughout the Prairie Provinces, and the first chartered bank to operate in Alberta. Frequently referred to as the "pioneer bank of Western Canada", the Union Bank followed Canada's railway across the Prairies, often first to open at the "end of the steel", housed in a tent or rough shack.

	Union Bank of Canada branch at Kerrobert, Saskatchewan in 1912

With the deepening of the post-war depression in 1922, the Union Bank's strategy of exuberant expansion was cracking due to overexposure on the Prairies. Although the bank's problems were not insurmountable its directors felt recovery would be long and slow and pursued a merger with another bank. On September 1, 1925, the Union Bank was absorbed by Royal Bank and the Union's considerable branch network, of which approximately two-thirds were located on the Prairies, rounded out Royal Bank's western presence.

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