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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2002
Banking and Insurance: Banking in the Colonies originated in New
Jersey, when in 1682 Mark Newbie, a Quaker, persuaded the General
Assembly that his souvenir Irish copper coins ("Patrick's pence") could
be put into circulation in the neighborhood of Camden (see Tour 31).
This was the first authorized use of currency in the Colonies, and Newbie
became in effect the first American banker.
Out of this modest but shrewd beginning grew the complicated banking
structure of present-day New Jersey. Banking did not develop into a large
commercial undertaking until about 60 years ago when industry began to
demand a unified currency, sources of credit, and a generally stable financial structure to stand back of the post-Civil War expansion. Notable early
banks in the State were the Newark Banking and Insurance Company,
which in 1804 received the first bank charter in the State, and the Trenton
Banking Company. The latter, also founded in 1804, is the oldest bank in the
State. The oldest bank in Newark is the National State Bank, founded in
1812. A State department of banking and insurance, with jurisdiction over
private banks as well as State banks, building and loan associations, and
remitters of funds abroad, was established in 1891.
The national banking system in 1936 included 266 New Jersey establishments out of a total of 417 banks in the State. Total resources of the
banks were listed at $2,349,705,942. Since 1900, trust companies have
increased rapidly and today dominate New Jersey banking. At present 142
such institutions have combined resources exceeding $1,000,000,000. Savings banks showed a corresponding rise, the number of depositors increasing from slightly less than 75,000 in 1900 to 574,667 in 1936. The
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in March 1934 insured 400 New
Jersey banks with 3,153,601 accounts and deposits of $869,981,197.
The Fidelity Union Trust Co. of Newark is the State's largest and most
important banking organization. It is the 36th largest bank in the United
States and has resources exceeding $150,000,000. Second is the Trust
Company of New Jersey, in Jersey City, with resources of about $86,000,000. The Howard Savings Institution of Newark is the largest savings
bank in the State with 95,000 depositors and $50,000,000 resources.
Newark is the fourth largest insurance city of the Nation, outranked
only by New York City, Hartford, and Boston. Insurance in New Jersey
began in 1810, when a group of Newark business men organized a mutual
fire insurance company as a measure of public welfare, without thought of
deriving profit. This company still survives as one of the groups within
the Royal Insurance Company of London.
In 1846 the American Mutual Insurance Company was founded in Newark. A year earlier, life and casualty insurance had been founded in Newark
with the organization of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company. In
1877 the Prudential Insurance Company was established and quickly became the dominant company in the State. Its success has been due mainly
to its emphasis on industrial insurance, providing for small weekly premiums that place a $1,000 policy within the average worker's reach, although at a comparatively high annual rate.
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