Chase Manhattan Bank
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The Chase Manhattan Bank was formed by the merger of the Chase National Bank and the Bank of the Manhattan Company in 1955.
The Bank of the Manhattan Company had been founded in 1799 by Aaron Burr, and Chase National Bank was named for former United States Treasury Secretary and Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, although Chase never had any connection with the latter entity.
At the time of the merger in the 1950s, Chase National, which the Rockefeller family had exercised strong influence over since its merger in 1930 with the Equitable Trust bank that had been owned by John D. Rockefeller Jr., was led by John J. McCloy. As Chase was much the larger of the two banks, it was first intended that Chase acquire the "Bank of Manhattan", as it was nicknamed, but it transpired that Burr's original charter for the Manhattan Company had not only included the clause allowing it (originally a water company) to start a bank with surplus funds, but another requiring unanimous consent of shareholders for the bank to be taken over. Therefore, the deal was structured as an acquisition of Chase National by the Bank of the Manhattan Company, with McCloy becoming chairman of the merged entity.
Under his successor George Champion, the antiquated 1799 state charter was relinquished for a modern one, and under his successor, David Rockefeller, the bank became part of a bank holding company, the Chase Manhattan Corporation. The merger of The Chase Manhattan Corporation and J.P. Morgan & Co. Incorporated was completed in December 2000. The merged company is named J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (also referred to as JPMorgan Chase).