Bank of the People Montreal in 1840. Until 1835, every bank in Upper Canada required a legislated charter which established it as a legal person able to sue, and be sued at law. Only two Banks had been chartered: the Bank of Upper Canada and the Commercial Bank of the Midland District. Both banks were controlled by the "Family Compact" who used their control of the currency supply and credit to control trade and ultimately, the farmers. They had a "licensed monopoly" to print paper money, which reduced competition. In 1835, Dr Charles Duncombe, a Reform politician in the Legislative Assembly, was part of
The Co-operative Bank bank also had approximately 2,500 preference shareholders, which were irredeemable fixed-interest shares. These shareholders could attend the bank's general meetings, but only had speaking and voting rights if the dividend is in arrears, or on any resolution varying their rights or winding up the bank. Unlike other co-operative banks, such as the Dutch company Rabobank, the Co-operative Bank did not have a federal structure of local banks, instead being a single national bank. In 2015 the campaign group "Save our Bank" (which has 10,000 supporters) proposed a plan for customers to directly own part of the bank. A "Union of