Canara Bank was founded by Shri Ammembal Subba Rao Pai, a great visionary and philanthropist, in July 1906, at Mangalore, then a small port town in Karnataka. The Bank has gone through the various phases of its growth trajectory over hundred years of its existence. Growth of Canara Bank was phenomenal, especially after nationalization in the year 1969, attaining the status of a national level player in terms of geographical reach and clientele segments. Eighties was characterized by business diversification for the Bank. In June 2006, the Bank completed a century of operation in the Indian banking industry. The eventful journey of the Bank has been characterized by several memorable milestones. Currently, Canara Bank occupies a premier position in the comity of Indian banks.

Canara Bank has several firsts to its credit, these include:

• Launching of Inter-City ATM Network
• Obtaining ISO Certification for a Branch
• Articulation of 'Good Banking' - Bank's Citizen Charter
• Commissioning of Exclusive Mahila Banking Branch
• Launching of Exclusive Subsidiary for IT Consultancy
• Issuing credit card for farmers
• Providing Agricultural Consultancy Services

Businesses of the Bank

• Personal Banking: It offers a wide range of products and services such as saving accounts, deposits, loans, mutual funds, Insurance, internet banking, debit card, credit card, etc.
• Corporate Banking: It provides various services to its corporate clients such as Cash Management Services, loans, IPO monitoring services, etc.
• NRI Banking: Besides various personal banking products it also offers remittance services, consultancy services to its NRI Clients.
• SME sector: It also offers various products and services to priority and SME sector.

Awards and Achievements

2017-18:

• Received Master card Innovation Award for Canara International Prepaid card under prepaid segment.
• “Rupay Special” award for being the highest Rupay card issuing bank by NPCI.
• VISA Award on crossing a key milestone on issuance of 1.35 crore VISA debit card.
• Bagged FINNOVITI award for Innovation for CANDI Branch.
• ASSOCHAM Social Banking Excellence Awards 2017 for Government Sponsored Schemes and Runner-up for Agriculture Banking in the Large Bank Class.
• Golden Peacock Award 2017 for Corporate Social Responsibility from Institute of Directors, New Delhi.
• Skoch Technologies Growth 2017 for “CANDI”, digital branch.
• Excellent Customer Service Award’ at the 5th SME Excellence 2017 by ASSOCHAM.
• Best CIO of the Year” by Computer Society of India for “CANDI” an ambitious digital banking project of the Bank in the “IT Innovation & Excellence Awards2017”.
• Skoch Smart Security awards 2017 for “SIEM” tool.
• Dun and BradStreet Award for 2016-17 adjudging as Best Public Sector Bank-Priority Sector Lending Bank. Consecutively third time (2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17) Bank has been receiving this Award.
• Certificate of Excellence for exemplary leadership in promoting RSETIs and Certificate of Excellence for RUDSETI for FY15 & FY16.

2018-19:

• Central Vigilance Commission has awarded Canara Bank with ‘Vigilance Excellence Award-Outstanding’ under Category ‘Timely Completion of Disciplinary Proceedings’ for the year 2018.
• Bank received first runner up award on theme Credit off-take in EASE Banking Reform Awards 2019.
• Bank has bagged four awards from the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) under Agriculture, Priority sector lending, Social Banking and Technology.
• Bank has bagged eight Awards from Public Relations Council Of India (PRCI) including 3 Gold under Television Commercials, Advertising Corporate Campaign RADIO and Advertising Corporate Campaign Television.
• NPCI Special Award in recognition of excellent performance in NFS ATM Network, Rupay, CTS & UPI / IMPS.
• Bank’s House magazine ‘Shreyas’ bagged Making of Developed India Award sponsored by ET Now for best in house magazine for the year 2018.
• Secured Chamber of Indian Micro Small & Medium Enterprises (CIMSME) awards for best bank for promotional schemes (Large category).
• Received runner up CIMSME award for best MSME bank (Large category) and financially inclusive bank (Large category).
• Secured PFRDA’s best performing PSB award in APY performance and the splendid seven awards for the APY campaign.

2019-20:

• Canara Bank has been awarded ‘India’s Most Trusted Public Sector Banking Services Company 2019’ by International Brand Consulting Corporation, USA.
• Canara Bank has been awarded ‘SIDBI-ET INDIA MSE AWARD-2019’ under noteworthy Lender to MSE Category - (Public Sector Bank).
• Canara Bank received the award for Best Data Quality Management 2018-19 at the Annual Credit Information Conference.
• Canara Bank received National award for SHG Bank Linkage 2018-19 (Public Sector Banks) from DAY-NRLM, Ministry of Rural Development.
• The bank has been conferred with VISA GLOBAL QUALITY AWARD 2018 for the lowest global frauds reflection its commitment to deliver superior service quality.
• DRBT Banking Technology Innovation Contest for CANDI Branch.
• Skoch Order of Merit Award 2019 for Canara DiYA, Canara Recovery App, Canara Digital Learning & Social Media Analytics and Campaign management.
• Skoch Award 2019 Silver for “Canara DiYA'.

Milestones

• 1906: Canara Hindu Permanent Fund Ltd. formally registered with a capital of 2000 shares of Rs. 50/- each, with 4 employees.
• 1910: Canara Hindu Permanent Fund renamed as Canara Bank Limited
• 1969: 14 major banks in the country, including Canara Bank, nationalized on July 19
• 1976: 1000th branch inaugurated
• 1983: Overseas branch at London inaugurated, Cancard (the Bank’s credit card) launched
• 1985: Takeover of Lakshmi Commercial Bank Limited and Commissioning of Indo Hong Kong International Finance Limited (now a full-fledged branch)
• 1987: Canbank Mutual Fund & Canfin Homes launched
• 1989: Canbank Venture Capital Fund started
• 1989-90: Canbank Factors Limited, the factoring subsidiary launched
• 1992-93: Became the first Bank to articulate and adopt the directive principles of “Good Banking”.
• 1995-96: Became the first Bank to be conferred with ISO 9002 certification for one of its branches in Bangalore
• 2001-02: Opened a 'Mahila Banking Branch', first of its kind at Bangalore, for catering exclusively to the financial requirements of women clientele.
• 2002-03: Maiden IPO of the Bank
• 2003-04: Launched Internet Banking Services
• 2004-05: 100% Branch computerization
• 2005-06: Entered 100th Year in Banking Service. Launched Core Banking Solution in select branches. Number One Position in Aggregate Business among Nationalized Banks.
• 2006-07: Retained Number One Position in Aggregate Business among Nationalized Banks. Signed MoUs for Commissioning Two JVs in Insurance and Asset Management with international majors viz., HSBC (Asia Pacific) Holding and Robeco Groep N.V respectively.
• 2007-08: Launching of New Brand Identity. Incorporation of Insurance and Asset Management JVs. Launching of 'Online Trading' portal. Launching of a ‘Call Centre’. Switchover to Basel II New Capital Adequacy Framework.
• 2008-09: The Bank crossed the coveted Rs. 3 lakh crore in aggregate business. The Bank’s 3rd foreign branch at Shanghai commissioned.
• 2009-10: The Bank’s aggregate business crossed Rs. 4 lakh crore mark. Net profit of the Bank crossed Rs. 3000 crore. The Bank’s branch network crossed the 3000 mark.
• 2010-11: The Bank’s aggregate business crossed Rs. 5 lakh crore mark. Net profit of the Bank crossed Rs. 4000 crore. 100% coverage under Core Banking Solution. The Bank’s 4th foreign branch at Leicester and a Representative office at Sharjah, UAE, opened. The Bank raised Rs. 1993 crore under QIP. Govt. holding reduced to 67.72% post QIP.
• 2011-12: Total number of branches reached 3600. The Bank’s 5th foreign branch at Manama, Bahrain opened.
• 2012-13: Highest Dividend of 130% paid for the year
• 2013-14: 1027 branches and 2786 ATMs opened during the year. Global business crossed the Rs.7 lakh crore milestone. Switchover to Basel III New Capital Adequacy Framework. Branch Network and Atms increased to 4755 branches and 6312 ATMs.
• 2014-15: Global Business of the Bank crossed Rs.8 lakh crore.
• 2015-16: The Bank’s 8th foreign branch at DIFC (Dubai) opened.
• 2016-17: Branch network crossed 6000 milestones.Total number branches rose to 6083.Canara Bank (Tanzania) Ltd., a foreign subsidiary, opened.
• 2017-18: Global Business of the Bank crossed Rs.9 lakh crore.
• 2018-19: Global Business of the Bank crossed 10 lakh crore, Bank issued 2 core new equity shares to employees under Canara Bank Employee Share Purchase scheme (CanBank-ESPS).
• 2019-20: Domestic Business of Canara Bank crossed Rs. 10 Lakh Crore.