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Which bank is the oldest? Accounts vary

Institutions’ roots are tangled, and a 1784 Mass. charter plays a central role in competing claims from two modern-day giants

Two of the nation’s largest financial institutions are squabbling over which one was founded first. Bank of America says it traces its roots to the Massachusetts Bank, which was chartered in February 1784, through its acquisition of FleetBoston in 2004. But Bank of New York Mellon says it is the nation’s oldest bank - founded by Alexander Hamilton as the Bank of New York in June 1784

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