The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions has granted the General Bank of Canada a Canadian Bank Charter. Ralph Goodale, Minister of Finance, signed the Letters Patent incorporating the General Bank of Canada as a schedule A bank on April 12.

The bank anticipates commencing business as a Canadian Deposit Insurance Corp. insured bank within the next 90 days.

Under Canada’s new bank ownership rules enacted in 2001, the General Bank of Canada will be the first privately held Canadian chartered bank not owned by either a publicly traded corporation or credit union.

The General Bank of Canada is owned by the Wheaton Group of Cos., the largest General Motors franchised dealer network in Canada.

The incorporation of a bank further expands the financial services of the group which currently owns a regulated life company, First Canadian Insurance Corp., and a property and casualty company, Millennium Insurance Corp.