Biggest

If Macaulay's schoolboy were living today, he undoubtedly could name the nation's largest bank. It was last winter's series of mergers which made people conscious of bank sizes, so that now even businessmen know that the National City is U. S. biggest.*

Last week the National City Bank acquired another title of magnitude, the ultimate title, in fact, of "biggest in the world." Its merger with the Corn Exchange Bank Trust Co. swelled its resources to $2,386,066,401, a total sufficient to nose out the former "biggest," London's Midland Bank, Ltd., by a bare 83 million.

The Corn Exchange will lose its identity; Walter E. Frew, its board chairman, will probably become a National City director, retire from active banking. Able, dynamic, forceful Charles Edwin Mitchell, since 1921 National City head, will dominate the merged institution. So swiftly did Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Frew consummate the merger that even the rumormongers were taken by surprise. The Corn Exchange has the largest number of local branches (68) in the city.

Though size may not have entered into Mr. Mitchell's calculations, he has driven his institution to the top in this respect. Ranked according to total resources, the ten largest banks in the world are now:

National City $2,386,000,000

Midland Bank, Ltd $2,303,000,000

Lloyd's Bank $2,088,000,000

Barclay's Bank $1,846,000,000

Westminster Bank, Ltd $1,578,000,000

Guaranty Trust Co $1,556,000,000

Chase National $1,497,000,000

National Provincial Bank, Ltd $1,483,000,000

Continental Illinois Bank & Trust Co $1,087,000,000

Equitable Trust Co $ 953,000,000

* Many a New York inhabitant and visitor knew this bank because of its unique and long-standing advertisement headlined: "A Bank Statement That Any Man or Woman Can Understand." This began to appear years ago when other banks were afraid to advertise except in an unintelligible manner.