what is MBNA stand for?
 

I check out the website www.mbna.com but I can't find what it stand for, can anyone tell me what it stand for? much appreciated it.

Not sure, but I guess the NA would be North America and the B would be for Bank... Maybe Merchants Bank North America? Just taking a wild guess... I usually try to figure out those "clever" (and yes, I'm being sarcastic in a way!) acronyms on car personal tags. ;)

So.... if I'm right, do I win a prize? :p

I think the "NA" for US-based banks stands for "National Association". Something like that. That doesn't indicate anything about the footprint of a given bank's branches, just that it is chartered under certain federal rules I believe (like in the old days the "First National Bank of" XYZ town, which only had one branch, but has national in the name). The alternative would be some kind of state chartered bank instead.

Besides, MBNA tells me to write check to "MBNA America". I'd like to think that the A is not redundant. :D (It wouldn't be the first time if it was, though. When banks started shortening their names, I saw this all the time. FCNB Bank, for instance, where the B is most definitely redundant. And of course, there's always your favorite "ATM machine". Groan.)

Ah, but in reading one page on the MBNA site, it says "MBNA Corporation is a bank holding company and the parent of MBNA America Bank, N.A., a national bank. MBNA America has two principal subsidiaries: MBNA Europe Bank Limited and MBNA Canada Bank, fully chartered banks that issue credit cards in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, and Canada." Somewhere in there is most definitely some redundancy. Oh, well. I still think the NA is probably "N.A.", which indicates a national bank. What the MB once was has been abolished from their history it seems.

Hm, Hoover's has a little bit of history, but not a lot of light to shed on the name: http://premium.hoovers.com/subscribe...tml?COID=12449 (Strange, it looks like that's supposed to be a subscriber-only page, but I was able to get through to it by first following a link from Google. Dunno. May or may not work.) "MBNA was started in Newark, Delaware, in 1982 by Charles Cawley as the credit card subsidiary of Baltimore-based MNC Financial." More letters! I believe MNC Financial was originally Maryland National Bank. (PNC here in Pittsburgh has a similar history, changing from Pittsburgh National Bank.) So the M might actually stand for Maryland.

Is use to be called Maryland Bank, N.A.

Here is another opinion of what MBNA stands for (still not from the source):

http://www.thestrand.ca/news/2003/10...s-541266.shtml

Mbna
 

Maryland Bank North America

http://www.boston-bmwcca.org/referen...al/1998/07.asp

Humm... I always thought it stood for Mellon Bank North America....guess I was wrong...

MBNA: Maryland Bank North America


ohhhhhhhhhhhhh now I know heheheh thank you so much to the people that reply to my post. Now I can stop wondering what is MBNA stand for hehehehe :cool:

Mellon is a separate institution, though its retail operations have now been sold to Citizens (i.e. Royal Bank of Scotland).

Ditto.

Mileage Balance Not Applicable

Actually I thought it was Mellon Bank, National Association.

Nope...Maryland Bank....

Ok I'll chime in here too. Heres what I heard from somebody that used to work there (and also I think in one of the many other "what does MBNA stand for" threads.

It USED to stand for Maryland Bank North America (I'm pretty sure it was North America, but positive about Maryland Bank).

Anyways, they had issues, went bankrupt or something, and got bought out I believe. Since then it has been MBNA, standing for nothing specific really, just MBNA.

Gagan

MBNA stand for Maryland Bank National Association.