Bank of North America

The President, Directors, and Company, of the Bank of North America, commonly known as the Bank of North America, was a private bank first chartered on Dec. 31, 1781 by the Confederation Congress and opened in Philadelphia on Jan. 7, 1782. It was based upon a plan presented by Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris on May 17, 1781 and approved by the Continental Congress on May 26, 1781. This was thus the Nation's first de facto central bank. When shares in the bank were sold to the public, the Bank of North America became the country's first initial public offering. It was succeeded in its role as central bank by the First Bank of the United States in 1791.