 | |
Native name | 東海銀行 |
|---|---|
| Company type | Commercial bank |
| Industry | Banking, financial services |
| Founded | 1941 |
| Defunct | 2002 |
| Fate | Merged withSanwa Bank andToyo Trust and Banking |
| Successor | UFJ Bank |
| Headquarters | Nagoya, Japan |
Area served | Japan |
TheTokai Bank (東海銀行,Tokai ginkō) was a leading commercial bank in Japan, based inNagoya. In the second half of the 20th century, it was the dominant bank in theChūkyō metropolitan area of central Japan, the home ofToyota and other manufacturing firms. Tokai Bank was formed by merger duringWorld War II, and eventually merged in 2000-2002 withSanwa Bank andToyo Trust and Banking to formUFJ Bank, a predecessor ofMitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.[1]
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The Tokai (lit. 'East Sea', namely theSea of Japan) Bank was established in 1941, beforeJapan's entry into World War II though well into theSecond Sino-Japanese War. It resulted from the merger of three smaller banks of roughly equal size, namely theIto Bank (est. 1881),Nagoya Bank (est. 1882), andAichi Bank (est. 1896), all three based in Nagoya. The latter was itself the continuation of theEleventh National Bank, originally established in 1877 under the system ofNational Banks in Meiji Japan (not to be confused with a later bank also namedAichi Bank).[2]
After the war ended, the Tokai Bank was deemed by the Allied occupation authorities not to have contributed significantly to the war effort, and was thus permitted to keep its management and its name. In 1947 it obtained a foreign exchange license. In 1962, under new legislation, Tokai Bank separated its trust banking operations as the Chuo Trust & Banking Company. It opened offices inTokyo andOsaka, then an office inNew York in 1954, a first overseas branch inLondon in 1963, then converted the New York office into a branch in 1965. Additional offices were opened in the 1970s inLos Angeles,Amsterdam,Hong Kong,Zurich,Sydney, andSingapore. By then, theToyota Motor Corporation was Tokai Bank's most important customer and also became the bank's largest shareholder.[2]
In 2000, Tokai Bank initially entered talks with Sanwa Bank andAsahi Bank. Asahi eventually pulled out of the negotiations, but these were expanded to Toyo Trust and Banking and eventually led to the formation ofUFJ Bank in 2002.[3]
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