James Maclaren, first President - Two sons, David and Alexander succeeded their father on the Bank of Ottawa Board. David Maclaren Maclaren was president from 1900 to 1913. Alexander continued as a member of the Board of Directors.

Another founder, Alexander Nasen, a pionner of the sqared timber trade remained on
the Board until 1902 when his place was taken by his son, John B. Nasen, who joined The Bank of Nova-Scotia Board at the time of the merger in 1919. He died in 1939. Also on the original directorate were Allan Gilmour of Gatineau Point, Hon. George Bryson (father of the late Hon. George Bryson of Fort Coulonge), Robert Blackburn, organizer of the Hawkbury Lumber Company shortlu after the Bank was incorporated.

Other members of the first board were Hon. L.R. Church of Aylmer, Quebec, also
treasurer of Quebec Province;Charles Magee, first vice-president of the Bank; C.T. Bate and George Hay, who operated a hardware business and lumbermen`s equipement.
On of the first moves was to take over the agency of th Bank of British North America, at Arnprior. D.W Finnie came to the Bank at that time, later becoming its generalmanager.

He remained with the Bank until its absorption by The Bank of Nova-Scotia. The
original paid-up capital was $343,875.00 and in 1883 the Bank moved to its own head office building on Welington Street facing Parliament Building.

The Bank always adequate funds at its disposal and a new outlat for its deposits and a capital was formed on June 19, 1881, by opening a branch in Winipeg.
Throught most of its corporate career, the Bank had as its general manager George E. Burn (late Sir George) and he was elected president of the Canadian Bankers
Association at the end of 1914.

Many prominent Canadians became directors of the Bank of Ottawa during its
corporate history, including Sir Henry Egan, Sir George Perly, E. C. Whitney, Hon. M.J. O`Brien, John Mather, Dennis Murphy and H.F. McLaughlin.
The Directors always took a keen personal interest in the operation of the business and it was considered a part of the regular banking routine that each individual account in every branch should be analyzed by two of the Bank`s directors as well as the Bank`s inspector, every year. This annual visit took as long as two months when the Banks branches grew in Ontario and the West. Of the directors who joined the Bank of Nova- Scotia Board at the time of the merger, five namely, Hon. George Bryson, who was President of the Bank of Ottawa at the date of amalgamation. John B. Fraser, who was Vice-President, Russell Blackburn, Alexander Maclaren and Hon. George Gordon.

Almost from its inception the Bank of Ottawa had become a name to conjure with the
Ottawa Valley. There are few localities in Canada where a single institution dominated for so long the banking facilities of a community. Out of nearly 100 branches at the time of its absorption by the Bank of Nova-Scotia, over 60 were in Ontario, the majority being within a short radius of Ottawa itself. Thirtheen additional branches adjointed in Quebec Province while sixteen more gave the Bank excellent representation in Manitoba and Saskachewan. Offices in Edmonton and Vancouver rounded out the network.

From the view point of the Bank of Nova-Scotia the merger was particularly
advantageous. Although the two institutions had a combined organization of neraly 300 branches they overlapped at only 11 points. The Bank of Nova-Scotia had hitherto had little or no representation in the Ottawa Valley and the acquisition of a good connection there and the two western provinces was very welcome. The Bank of Ottawa, on the other hand, had rech a point were new capital and vigourous expansion was necessary to maintain earnings on profitable level and after the strenous years of the war, the offer made by the Bank of Nova-Scotia looked to attractive to be passed by. The Capital stock at this time was $4,000,000.00 while assests totaled $73,2000,000.00 and reserve $4,750.000.00. Under the terms of the merger which was consummated on April 30, 1919, shareholders of the Bank of Ottawa received four shares of the Bank of Nova- Scotia stock for each five shares held.

In the intervening years the Bank of Nova-Scotia had carried foward the traditions of the institution which served this community for nearly half a century. The mergerwhile continuing the intimate banking service of the former organization has afforded a national connection not possible prior to the amalgamation.

To finance these mergers and to keep pace with the etraordinnary growth of the first two decades of the twentieth century Canada, much new capital was needed by the Bank of Nova-Scotia. In 1900, paid-up capital was but $2,000,000.00 and reserve fund $2,8000,000.00, total assets were $25,744,500.00. By 1920, after giving effect to the Bank of Ottawa merger, paid-up capital had soarded nearly five-fold to $9,700,000.00, reserve fund more that six-fold to $18,000,000.00 and total assets were nin times larger at $239,700,000.00. Deposits which at the beginning of the century had been scarcely $18,000,000.00 increased more than ten-folds to nearly $185,000,000.00. In point of assets theBank for the first time ranked forth among all Canadian banks. It was in 1920, incidently, that the Bank opened its first branch in London, England.