Private company

English, Scottish and Australian Bank

Australian bank (1852–1970)

The English, Scottish & Australian Bank Limited was an Australian bank founded in 1852 by royal charter in London and named English, Scottish and Australian Chartered Bank. Following a financial reconstruction in 1893 its business was renamed English, Scottish and Australian Bank Limited. Known as ES&A it merged with ANZ on 1 October 1970 to form Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

1852Founded1
  • Industryfinancial service activities, except insurance and pension funding1
  • HeadquartersLondon1

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English, Scottish & Australian Bank Limited seal 1939
Photo: unknown (Life time: N/A), PD-US, via Wikipedia4

The English, Scottish & Australian Bank Limited was an Australian bank founded in 1852 by royal charter in London and named English, Scottish and Australian Chartered Bank. Following a financial reconstruction in 1893 its business was renamed English, Scottish and Australian Bank Limited.2

Corporate structure

English, Scottish and Australian Bank sits at the top of its group. 2 entities, 1 country on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

  • English, Scottish and Australian Bank London
    • Esanda Subsidiary · Melbourne

Built from subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0); major holders from Schedules 13D and 13G. Each entity in the chart links to its source.

The story

ES&A opened its first Australian branch in Sydney in 1853. Australian banknotes were printed by the bank and issued at branches in Sydney, Adelaide, Hobart, and Melbourne. In 1893 its business was renamed the English, Scottish & Australian Bank Limited following a financial upheaval.

It was one of 16 banks which supplied blank note forms to the Australian Government in 1911, which were superscribed as redeemable in gold and issued as the first Commonwealth notes.

The Commercial Bank of Tasmania and the London Bank of Australia were taken over in 1921 and the Royal Bank of Australia in 1927.

Prominent South Australian architect F. Kenneth Milne designed several buildings for the bank before 1929.

On 1 October 1970 ES&A merged with the Australia and New Zealand Bank to form the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited. At the time of the merger ES&A had a network of about 570 branches across Australia.

Esanda

Esanda was a consumer finance division of ES&A which began separate operations in 1955. Its name is an acronym of ES&A. In 2015 ANZ sold Esanda to Macquarie Group.

From Wikipedia’s article on English, Scottish & Australian Bank, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Subsidiaries and ownership

Subsidiaries

From Wikidata.1

Acquisitions

  1. Succeeded by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group1

Timeline

  1. 1970Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1852Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

  1. 1
  2. 2
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  4. 4