Founding years
Zürcher Kantonalbank opened its first bank counter on 15 February 1870, at a time when the needs of workmen and employees for mortgages and other capital for their farms and businesses and for industrial companies were largely neglected by private banks. This is where the "bank for the citizens of Zurich" was to step in, according to the idea of cantonal council member Johann Jakob Keller, the driving force behind the bank's founding.
The canton of Zurich provided the necessary endowment capital and appointed the senior governing bodies. The public service mandate and the corresponding social and political responsibility were established by law.