Canara Bank is one of the leading public sector banks owned by the Government of India. Its headquarters are in Bengaluru. It was established in Mangalore in 1906, making it one of the oldest public sector banks in the country. The government nationalized the bank in 1969. As of June 30, 2017, the bank had a network of 6089 branches and more than 10519 ATMs distributed by India. The bank also has offices abroad in London, Hong Kong, Moscow, Shanghai, Doha, Bahrain, South Africa, Dubai, Tanzania and New York.
Ammembal Subba Rao Pai, a philanthropist, established the Canara Hindu Permanent Fund in Mangalore, India, on July 1, 1906. The bank changed its name to Canara Bank Limited in 1910 when it was incorporated.
The first acquisition of Banco Canara took place in 1961 when it acquired the Bank of Kerala. It had been founded in September 1944 and at the time of its acquisition on May 20, 1961 it had three branches. The second bank that Canara Bank acquired was Seasia Midland Bank (Alleppey), which had been established on July 26, 1930 and had seven branches at the time of its acquisition.
In 1958, the Reserve Bank of India had ordered Canara Bank to acquire Bank G. Raghumathmul in Hyderabad. This bank had been established in 1870 and had become a joint-stock company in 1925. At the time of the acquisition, G. Raghumathmul Bank had five branches. The merger came into force in 1961. Subsequently, in 1961, Canara Bank acquired the Trivandrum Permanent Bank. It had been founded on February 7, 1899 and had 14 branches at the time of the merger.
Canara Bank then acquired four banks in 1963: Sree Poornathrayeesa Vilasam Bank, Thrippunithura Bank, Arnad Bank, Tiruchirapalli Bank, Cochin Commercial Bank, Cochin Bank and Pandyan Bank, Madurai. Sree Poornathrayeesa Vilasam Bank was established on 21 February 1923 and at the time of its acquisition it had 14 branches. Arnad Bank had been established on 23 December 1942 and at the time of its acquisition there was only one branch. The Cochin Commercial Bank had been established on January 3, 1936, and at the time of its acquisition it had 13 branches.
The Government of India nationalized Canara Bank along with 13 other major commercial banks in India on 19 July 1969. In 1976, the Bank of Canara opened its 1000th branch. In 1985, Canara Bank acquired Lakshmi Commercial Bank in a ransom. This brought to Banco Canara some 230 branches in northern India.
In 1996, Canara Bank became the first Indian bank to obtain ISO certification for "Total Branch Banking" for its Seshadripuram branch in Bangalore. Canara Bank has stopped opting for ISO certification of branches.