Alliance Bank expanded by taking over the operations of other failed banks. By doing so it was able to extend its branch network and reduce the competition that some of its branches faced. It was the liquidator for the Punjab Bank, and subsequently opened branches at Murree, Rawalpindi, and Lahore. Alliance Bank then opened branches at Umballa on 14 July 1885 and Cawnpore on 1 December 1887. Branches in Calcutta, Ajmere, Agra, and Bombay followed. Alliance Bank opened its Calcutta branch on 15 October 1889 on Council House Street. The firm Martin & Co., founded by Sir Rajendra Nath Mookerjee and Sir Thomas Acquin Martin, built the building, which still exists. After Alliance Bank failed, the Imperial Bank of India took over the building. After the Imperial Bank became the Reserve Bank of India in 1935, the Reserve Bank took over the premises. Alliance was appointed the liquidator of Himalaya Bank, and opened a branch at Mussoorie on 21 August 1891. Next, it was the liquidator for Lloyd's Bank's branch at Darjeeling and opened a branch there on 1 January 1896. Early In 1913, it acquired some of the assets and liabilities of the Bank of Upper India, which had been founded in Meerut in 1862 and had been the first joint-stock bank in India. This bank had opened a branch in Agra after the failure of Agra and Masterman's Bank. It had had short-lived branches in Cawnpore and Fyzabad, and more successful ones in Simla, Lucknow, Allahabad, Bareilly, Naini Tal, Delhi and Mussoorie. Then in 1916 Alliance Bank acquired the Indian business and six Indian branches of Delhi and London Bank. Boulton Brothers, of London, acquired the London business of Delhi and London Bank. Alliance and Boulton Brothers had been associated since 1914. Alliance Bank also acquired in 1916 Punjab Banking Company, which Sir David P. Masson had founded in Lahore in 1889. The bank had branches in Abbotabad, Dalhousie, Ferozepore, Jullundar, Karachi, Cantonment , Multan, Naushera, Quetta, Peshawar, Sialkot, Simla, and Srinagar. In 1917 Alliance Bank acquired the Bank of Rangoon, which had a branch in Madras in addition to its head office in Rangoon. In 1922, Alliance Bank moved its headquarters to Calcutta, shortly before the bank's collapse and closure in 1923.
Failure
Boulton Bros. engaged in fraudulent transactions that brought them down, and Alliance Bank as well. When Alliance Bank failed, the Imperial Bank took over its assets. For instance Imperial Bank took over Alliance Bank's branch in Lahore and promised payment of 50% of the amount owed to creditors.
Citations and references
Citations References
Bagchi, Amiya Kumar. The evolution of the State Bank of India, the roots, 1806-1876..
Jones, Geoffrey British Multinational Banking, 1830-1990..
