CHEMICAL BANKING CORPORATION

former American bank holding company that merged with The Chase Manhattan Corporation (q.v.) in 1996. The holding company's principal subsidiary was Chemical Bank, which was chartered in 1824 in New York City as a division of the New York Chemical Manufacturing Company. Manufacturing activities were dropped in 1832, and in 1844 the company was reconstituted as a state bank and the chemical business was disposed of. After successive mergers and name changes, the bank assumed the name Chemical Bank in 1969, when it became part of Chemical New York Corporation, which was formed specifically for the purpose of acquiring control of the bank. In 1987 Chemical New York Corporation acquired Texas Commerce Bancshares, Inc., a large banking company based in Texas. In 1991 Chemical New York merged with Manufacturers Hanover Corporation in one of the largest bank mergers in American history. The merged company became the Chemical Banking Corporation. In 1996 the firm, which was by then the second-largest bank in the United States, merged with another New York-based bank, The Chase Manhattan Corporation, to form the largest bank in the nation. Though the Chemical Banking Corporation had been the larger partner in the merger, the resulting firm was called The Chase Manhattan Corporation.