In 1859 a group of francophone businessmen with the backing of the provincial legislative assembly established the Banque Nationale located in Montreal. After several mergers through the 1900s, it was the 1979 merger with Provincial Bank that National Bank Canada came into being (TSX: NA). National Bank of Canada is currently the sixth largest commercial bank and was voted the strongest bank in North America by Bloomberg Markets in 2012. National Bank provides financial services such as banking and investment solutions, securities brokerage, insurance, and wealth management to a number of clients in the retail, commercial, corporate, and institutional sectors. The bank operates in three areas: Personal and Commercial, Wealth Management, and Financial Markets (Source: History).