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.