brown brothers harriman & co. type partnership industry investment banking commercial banking private equity wealth management merger and acquisitions founded new york new york us january 1 1931 1931 01 01 merger of brown bros. & co. 1818 harriman brothers & company 1927 and w. a. harriman & co. 1922 headquarters 140 broadway new york new york revenue 1.3 billion number of employees 5 000 2012 1 website bbh.com brown brothers harriman & co. bbh is the oldest and largest private bank in the united states . 2 3 in 1931 the merger of brown brothers & co. founded in 1818 and harriman brothers & co. formed the current bbh . brown brothers harriman is also notable for the number of influential american politicians government appointees and cabinet members who have worked at the company such as w. averell harriman prescott bush robert a. lovett richard w. fisher robert roosa and alan greenspan . contents 1 overview 2 history 2.1 merger 3 see also 4 references 5 external links overview edit brown brothers harriman provides advisory wealth management commercial banking and investor services for corporate institutions and high net worth individual clients . alongside commercial banking the firm provides global custody foreign exchange private equity and merger and acquisitions investment management for individuals and institutions personal trust and estate administration and securities brokerage . organized as a partnership bbh has approximately 5 500 staff in 17 offices throughout north america europe and asia . currently the firm has 38 partners 4 and acts as custodian and administrator for 3.3 trillion and 1.2 trillion in assets respectively . 1 5 history edit w. averell harriman founding partner of brown brothers & co. after immigrating to baltimore in 1800 and building a successful linen mercantile trading business 2 3 6 alexander brown and his four sons co founded alex. brown & sons . 7 8 in 1818 one son john alexander brown traveled to philadelphia to establish john a. brown and co. 9 in 1825 another son james brown established brown brothers & co. 10 on pine street in new york and relocated to wall street in 1833 2 which eventually acquired all other brown branches in the u.s. 10 another son william brown had established william brown & co. in england in 1810 which was renamed to brown shipley & co. in 1839 and became a separate entity in 1918 . 6 7 10 following the panic of 1837 brown brothers withdrew from most of its lending business . two of the brothers john and george sold their shares in the company to the other two brothers william and james . during the recovery from this economic turmoil they chose to focus solely on currency exchange and international trade . during the panic of 1857 brown brothers was one of the few banks that did not close its doors and actually supported several banks both in america and england . citation needed merger edit prescott bush an initial minority owner after the merger between brown brothers and harriman brothers on january 1 1931 brown brothers & co. merged with two other business entities harriman brothers & company an investment company started with railway money and w. a. harriman & co. to form brown brothers harriman & co. founding partners included thatcher m. brown sr prescott bush granger kent costikyan louis curtis moreau delano e. roland harriman w. averell harriman robert a. lovett ray morris knight woolley time s december 22 1930 issue announced that the three way merger featured 11 of 16 yale graduates as founding partners . 11 eight of the partners listed above except for moreau delano and thatcher brown were skull and bones members . 12 after the passage of the glass steagall act the partners decided to focus on commercial banking becoming a private bank and spin its securities marketing and underwriting off into harriman ripley and company which eventually evolved into drexel burnham lambert via mergers . harriman a partner in the firm was the ambassador and statesman responsible for the relationship between winston churchill and franklin roosevelt during wwii . some historical records of brown brothers harriman and its precursor companies are housed in the manuscript collections at the new york historical society . see also edit alex. brown & sons building brown memorial presbyterian church bankers trust references edit a b bbh annual report pdf . bbh & co. 2010 . retrieved 9 november 2012 . a b c new bank building on hanover street . new york times . september 3 1916 . retrieved august 29 2014 . a ... brown brothers who are the oldest as well as one of the largest private banking concerns in the country ... 2 b the firm was started in america in 1800 in baltimore by the original brown ... after starting in general dry goods business ... 3 c ... in 1825 the banking office of the firm was opened in new york city on pine street . the firm has been on its present wall street site since 1833 . 3 a b alex. brown & sons company building 135 east baltimore street baltimore independent city md . library of congress . 1933 . retrieved august 29 2014 . a ... alex. alexander brown & sons founded 1800 the first and oldest continually operating investment banking firm in the united states . notes 1 the bbh partnership . bbh & co. retrieved 16 january 2013 . bbh profile in global custody . globalcustody.net . retrieved 16 january 2013 . a b guide to the records of brown brothers harriman 1696 1973 1995 bulk 1820 1968 ms 78 . new york historical society . retrieved august 29 2014 . a ... linen merchant alexander brown emigrated to the united states in 1800 ... 1 b in 1810 alexander s eldest son william returned to england and established the trading firm william brown & co. in liverpool . this became brown shipley & co. in 1839 and relocated to london . it separated from brown brothers as a distinct business entity in 1918 . 1 a b hall henry 1896 . america s successful men of affairs . new york tribune . retrieved august 29 2014 . a to him were born in ballymena four sons william george john alexander and james . pg . 116 2 b the family came to america in 1800 settling in baltimore where after a prosperous career as a linen merchant mr. brown founded the bank of alex. brown & sons in partnership with his four sons . he died april 6 1834 . pg . 116 2 c ... established the houses of brown shipley & co. in england ... walker andrea april 3 2002 . alex. brown name all but gone german bank changes brokerage arm s title in marketing move . baltimore sun . retrieved august 29 2014 . a ... the oldest continuously operating investment bank in america according to experts . founded in 1800 as alex. brown & sons ... 17 1818 philadelphia house established . brown brothers harriman & co. retrieved august 29 2014 . a john a. brown travels to philadelphia and establishes john a. brown & co. . . john a. brown s historic philadelphia house also serves as the founding date for the future brown brothers harriman & co. pg . 1 8 a b c brown brothers & company records 1825 1889 . new york public library . 1936 . retrieved august 29 2014 . a ... baltimore in 1800 and opened a dry goods business with which his four sons became associated . b one son john 1788 1872 opened a branch in philadelphia in 1818 ... c another son james 1791 1877 established brown brothers & co. in new york city in 1825 and eventually absorbed the other branches . d in addition brown brothers & co. was associated with the english firm of brown shipley & co. which was run by another brother william brown 1784 1864 . business brown harriman . time . december 22 1930 . a of the 16 partners in the new firm of brown bros. harriman & co. eleven are yale graduates . skull and bones membership list 1833 1985 . external links edit brown brothers harriman official the records of brown brothers harriman 1696 1973 1995 at the new york historical society retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title brown brothers harriman % 26 co. & oldid 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