Banks are Confusing

A relative of mine, Abraham Newland, was the chief cashier of the Bank of England from 1782 until his death in 1807. Britons at the time called banknotes “Abraham Newlands” because all banknotes bore his signature. He was a pretty confusing guy. He owned a grand country estate, yet chose to sleep at the office every night for 25 years.

Bankers can be quirky, but banks take the cake:

What is now Bank of America was originally called Bank of Italy when it was founded, in 1904, not in Italy but rather San Francisco, California. It’s now headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. North Carolina split off from South Carolina in 1710, during Queen Anne’s reign. 19 years prior, a Scotsman named William Paterson loaned the Crown £1.2 million, becoming the Government’s exclusive banker. Thus, the mighty Bank of England was founded — by a Scot. An Englishman named Holland created the Bank of Scotland a year later.

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