Canadian Commercial Bank

Canadian Commercial Bank (CCB) became Canada's tenth Schedule A bank when chartered as Canadian Commercial and Industrial Bank on 30 July 1975. With corporate offices in Edmonton, the bank officially commenced business on 6 July 1976 in Vancouver and Edmonton on initial share capital of $22 million. By August 1984 the bank had become international in scope, with 16 deposit and lending offices located across Canada and the western US. Capital had increased to $107 million through public preferred shareholders and private common shareholders composed of leading pension and institutional funds. The present name was adopted 25 April 1981. The bank collapsed in September 1985 after a failed rescue attempt by federal and provincial governments and by several other chartered banks. The ESTEY COMMISSION subsequently investigated the failure of the CCB, as well as that of the Northland Bank. The commission heard evidence that both bad management practices and the recession then affecting western Canada were contributing factors in the banks' collapse.