• Early 1830s -- The Colonial Secretary of Western Australia
  Colonial Secretary of Western Australia
  The Colonial Secretary of Western Australia was one of the most important and powerful public offices in Western Australia, in the time when Western Australia was a British colony. The Colonial Secretary was the representative of the British Colonial Office in Western Australia, and was usually...
  
  , Peter Broun
  Peter Broun
  Peter Nicholas Broun , known for most of his life as Peter Nicholas Brown, was the first Colonial Secretary of Western Australia, and a member of Western Australia's first Legislative Council.-Early life:...
  
  , begins a makeshift banking service out of necessity, despite having no training in finance or accounting. It collapses in 1835.
• June 1837 -- the Bank of Western Australia (BWA) is established by prominent local businessmen including George Leake
  George Leake (merchant)
  George Leake was a wealthy landholder in the early days of the Swan River Colony. Backed with considerable assets, Leake supported many of the early settlers of the colony who were struggling financially...
  
   as its first chairman
• 1841 -- branch of Bank of Australasia opens, forcing the closure of the BWA shortly after
• 1841 (or 1842?) -- Former BWA directors, including Edward Hamersley (Snr)
  Edward Hamersley (Snr)
  Edward Hamersley was an early settler in colonial Western Australia. He became a successful and wealthy pastoralist, and a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council. The Hamersley family became one of the most prominent families in the colony.Edward Hamersley was born at Sandgate,...
  
   and George Shenton Sr
  George Shenton Sr
  George Shenton was a pharmacist, merchant, banker and philanthropist in colonial Perth, Western Australia.George Shenton was born in Winchester in England on 2 January 1811, the second of four sons of a wealthy silk manufacturer. At the age of fifteen, he was apprenticed to a pharmacist named...
  
   establish the Western Australian Bank (WAB)
• 1845? -- Bank of Australasia closes branch
• 1855 -- Government savings bank opens
• 1863 -- Post Office Savings Bank opens
• 1862 -- Perth Building Society
  Perth Building Society
  Perth Building Society was Western Australia’s first building society. It operated from 1862 to 1987, when it amalgamated with the Hotham Permanent Building Society to form Challenge Bank....
  
  (PBS) http://www.gabr.net.au/biogs/ABE0548b.htm opens
• 1866 -- branch of National Bank
  National Australia Bank
  National Australia Bank is one of the four largest financial institutions in Australia in terms of market capitalisation and customers. NAB is ranked 17th largest bank in the world measured by market capitalisation...
  
   opens
• 1878 -- branch of Union Bank
  Union Bank
  Union Bank was established in 1991 and had its headquarters in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Prior to the merger with Standard Chartered Bank , it was Pakistan's eighth largest bank and had 65 branches in some 22 cities, about US$2 billion in assets, and about 400,000 customers.In 2006, Standard...
  
   opens
• 1883 -- branch of Bank of New South Wales opens
• 1888 -- branch of Commercial Bank
  Commercial bank
  After the implementation of the Glass–Steagall Act, the U.S. Congress required that banks engage only in banking activities, whereas investment banks were limited to capital market activities. As the two no longer have to be under separate ownership under U.S...
  
   opens
• 1895 -- Government of Western Australia
  Government of Western Australia
  The formation of the Government of Western Australia is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1890, although it has been amended many times since then...
  
   establishes the Agricultural Bank of Western Australia
  Bank of Western Australia
  Bank of Western Australia is a full service bank based in Perth, Western Australia. Formerly a wholly owned subsidiary of HBOS plc, it was sold in October 2008 to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia for 2.1 billion....
  
  
• 1927 -- Western Australian Bank acquired by Bank of NSW
• 1945 -- Agricultural Bank renamed to the Rural and Industries Bank of Western Australia (R&I)
• 1975?? - Western Australian Building Society (WABS) opens
• 1987 -- Perth Building Society merges with Hotham Building Society to form Challenge Bank
• 1990 -- Town and Country Building Society, WA acquired by ANZ
• 1994 -- R&I renamed to Bank of Western Australia Limited, trading as BankWest
• 1995 -- Challenge Bank acquired by Westpac (formerly Bank of NSW)
• 1995 -- Bank of Scotland
  Bank of Scotland
  The Bank of Scotland plc is a commercial and clearing bank based in Edinburgh, Scotland. With a history dating to the 17th century, it is the second oldest surviving bank in what is now the United Kingdom, and is the only commercial institution created by the Parliament of Scotland to...
  
   acquired BankWest, and as part of the sale agreement, offered 49 per cent of the shares in BankWest to the public. BankWest shares listed on the Australian Stock Exchange on 1 February 1996.
• 2001 -- Halifax Group (a large UK financial institution) merged with Bank of Scotland to form HBOS
  HBOS
  HBOS plc is a banking and insurance company in the United Kingdom, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lloyds Banking Group having been taken over in January 2009...
  
   plc. HBOS then acquired all the outstanding shares of BankWest, making it HBOS's wholly owned subsidiary. Bankwest continues to trade as BankWest for retail and business banking services.
• 2008 -- Commonwealth Bank acquires Bankwest from HBOS for $2.1bn, fallout from the global financial crisis

External links

• http://www.encyclopedia.uwapress.uwa.edu.au/wa_snapshots#b
• http://www.gabr.net.au/biogs/ABE0187b.htm#related