The photo shown in last week’s Gazette is of the Standard Bank building in Kort Street as we know it today.
The bank was formed as a South African subsidiary of the British overseas bank Standard Bank, under the name Standard Bank of South Africa.
The bank’s origins can be traced to 1862, when a group of businessmen led by John Paterson formed a bank in London, initially under the name Standard Bank of British South Africa. The bank started operations in 1863 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and soon after opening it merged with several other banks including the Commercial Bank of Port Elizabeth, the Colesberg Bank, the British Kaffrarian Bank and the Fauresmith Bank. (Source: Internet). Standard Bank in Parys has been here for more than a hundred years at the same address in Kort Street.
Standard Bank was prominent in financing and development of the diamond fields of Kimberley in 1867. The word “British” was dropped from the title in 1883. When gold was discovered on the Witwatersrand, the bank expanded northwards and on 11 October 1886 the bank started doing business in a tent at Ferreira’s Camp (later to be called Johannesburg), thus becoming the first bank to open a branch on the Witwatersrand gold fields. On 1 November 1901 a second branch was opened in Eloff Street, Johannesburg.
