Largest Banks in the World Chase Manhattan Corporation Part 2

About one of the largest banks in the world Chase Manhattan Corporation, history and holdings, personalities and presidents.

BEHIND THE TELLER'S WINDOW--THE BIG BANKS

The Chase Manhattan Corporation

Personalities: Aaron Burr, founder of the Bank of Manhattan, was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1784 and was appointed attorney general of the state of New York in 1789. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1790 when he defeated Alexander Hamilton's father-in-law. In 1800 he ran on the presidential ticket with Thomas Jefferson. He organized the Tammany Society to influence the election in New York. When the votes were counted in the electoral college, Jefferson and Burr were tied, and the election was decided in the House of Representatives, where Hamilton used his influence to get Jefferson elected president instead of Burr, who became vice-president. Burr ran for governor of New York in 1804, and again Hamilton opposed him and helped defeat him. Burr, incensed by Hamilton's verbal attacks, challenged Hamilton to a duel. The duel took place in Weehawken, N.J., where Burr fatally wounded his rival. Meanwhile, the U.S. Constitution was amended by the addition of the 12th Amendment, which provided for separate elections for president and vice-president, so that the tie vote that occurred between Jefferson and Burr could not happen again.

John Jay McCloy, last chairman of the Chase National Bank and first chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank, was the U.S. military governor and allied high commissioner for Germany from 1949 to 1952. McCloy also served as the coordinator of U.S. disarmament activities during the Kennedy administration, and he was an assistant secretary of war during W.W. II.

Current chairman and chief executive officer David Rockefeller is the youngest son of John D. Rockefeller. Jr., and the grandson of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., the creator of the Standard Oil trust. David Rockefeller, who served as an assistant to New York City's Mayor Fiorello La Guardia from 1940 to 1941, is a collector of beetles.

Rockefeller's beetle collection is considered one of the best in the world. It has been cataloged by the Museum of Natural History. He financed beetle-collecting trips in the southwestern U.S., and two of the new beetles collected were named for him--Armaeodera rockefelleri and Cicindela rockefelleri.

Present-Day Holdings: The Chase Manhattan Corporation is a one-bank holding company. The Chase Manhattan Bank is its principal asset. As of 1976, the bank had $4 billion in real estate loans, which amounted to about 14% of its total loans. Its real estate loans included about $1.1 billion of loans for one-family to four-family residences in New York City, which is over 80% of this type of loan. Because of poor economic conditions, some borrowers have been unable to pay their loans, and as a consequence, Chase Manhattan has become the owner of almost $300 million in real estate.

As of 1976 the bank held $7 billion in pension trust assets, and the Chase Investors Management Corporation was managing assets of $6 billion, including $3.5 billion in employee benefit trusts. According to a 1976 bank report, the stockholdings of these trust accounts are concentrated in such large corporations as IBM, Exxon, General Electric, General Motors, ITT, Mobil Oil, Xerox, Eastman Kodak, AT&T, Polaroid, E. I. Du Pont, Union Carbide, and Honeywell.

You Are Here: Trivia-Library Home » Largest Banks » Largest Banks in the World Chase Manhattan Corporation Part 2
« Largest Banks in the World Chase Manhattan Corporation Part 1Largest Banks in the World Chase Manhattan Corporation Part 3 »