On July 1, 1999, Alaska Federal Savings Bank converted from a mutually-owned association to a stock-based savings bank, providing its customers and members of the general public with the opportunity to purchase stock and invest in the future of the company. The history of the Bank of Alaska 1916-1950, and the successor National Bank of Alaska from 1950, is the primary focus of chapters 8-9, 11, and 16. WWI precipitated an economic collapse in Alaska that almost did in the new bank. The 1960 merger of several banks with the Bank of Alaska made that bank the largest in the state with 19 branches in six locations.

Citation Bank of Alaska (originally known as Bank of Alaska) was Alaska's largest financial institution for the latter part of the 20th century. In 2000, it was subsumed into Wells Fargo. Bank of Alaska was founded in 1916 by Andrew Stevenson in Skagway, Alaska. In December 1999, National Bancorp of Alaska agreed to a $907 million buyout by Wells Fargo & Co. It had more than $3 billion in assets, and 53 National Bank of Alaska branches in 29 Alaskan communities, with an additional branch in Seattle, Washington.