Russian-Chinese Bank
The Russian-Chinese Bank ( Banque Russo-Chinoise; Russian Русско-Китайского банка ; Chinese 華 俄 銀行 , English Russo-Chinese Bank ) was a commercial bank founded in 1895, which from its headquarters in Saint Petersburg at the turn of the century was particularly focused on expanding the infrastructure North China invested. After the Chinese government participated, it was officially renamed the 華 俄 道 勝 銀行 , English Sino-Russian Righteousness Victory Bank . This name was changed after the merger with the French Banque du Nord in July 1910 in Russian-Asian Bank (Русско-Азиатский банк, Chinese 俄 亞 銀行 , English Russo-Asiatic Bank ). The Paris branch was the last to be liquidated in 1928.
founding
After rumors of imminent bonds for China had spread in London and Berlin, the Russian finance minister endeavored to grant China a large loan, modeled on the conditions imposed on Egypt and the Ottoman Empire . At the time, Russia was largely financed through the Paris Stock Exchange. The contract was signed on June 24th . / July 6th greg. in St. Petersburg after the statutes had been presented to the Tsar ten days beforehand. Gabriel Hanotaux gave his approval for the French government somewhat by surprise.
The initial capital of 6 million rubles (R.). This was mainly brought about by the bankers J. Hottinguer , E. Noetzlin ( Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas ) and René Brice ( Crédit Lyonnais ) with the participation of the Comptoir d'Escompte de Paris . The founding meeting took place in Saint Petersburg December 10, 1895. The working language of the administration was Russian. Three eighths of the capital was in Russian hands, five eighths in French hands. However, the Russians dominated the board (5 to 3), and the general manager had to be Russian as well. A Frenchman was to be placed at the head of the important Shanghai branch. The first directors responsible for China were the French Hincelot (from Comptoir d'Escompte; † 1896) and the Russian banker A. Wert and Witte's confidante DD Pokotiloff . Attempts to increase French influence through diplomatic channels were unsuccessful, but the materials for the rail concessions should preferably be ordered in France.
The involvement of the Chinese government was based on an agreement dated September 8, 1896, according to which the bank should finance the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway . A say on the board were the Chinese who 6 million Kuping - tael (corresponding to 6,165,000 R..) Brought in, but no. The representative of the Chinese government was Li Hung-chang , who was thanked with annual bribes until his death in 1901. Although largely financed by French, the bank was a subordinate body of the Russian Ministry of Finance under Sergei Juljewitsch Witte , which was used to promote the Russian push to the east.
The Russian Ministry of Finance announced in July 1898 that it would single-handedly acquire 12,000 new shares in the bank, a simultaneous amendment to the statutes stipulated that the election of a board member had to be confirmed by the ministry. In order to compensate for the French loss of influence, it was decided in 1899 that a French director would remain permanently in St. Petersburg, the three French directors were allowed to meet independently in Paris, their authorized representative in Russia was A. Yu. Rothstein.
Business operations
| Note: The spelling of the place names and company names follows the ones used at the time. |
The initial main business purpose was to issue one (of the three international) large bonds on the Paris market that the Ch'ing Empire needed to pay the war indemnity to Japan in 1895.
On April 27, 1896, the Shanghai branch of the Comptoir d'Escompte was taken over. With the Banque de l'Indochine , which opened there at the same time - whose shareholders were partly identical to those of the Russo-Chinese - an agreement was reached that was not always kept not to operate south of the Yangtze . At the end of 1896 it was decided to open a branch in Paris. Although the focus was on the Russian Far East, branches were opened in all the important trading centers of the Tsarist empire, at the height of expansion there were 175. Four branches were opened in Manchuria. In Russia, the focus was on short-term loans for bridging trade, agricultural products and loans for the developing heavy industry. One was involved in the Putiloff works, the Nevsky shipyard , the Baranowski factory and other arms factories.
By 1902, the bank rose to become the second largest in China, also because it administered the portion of the boxer's compensation due in Shanghai for Russia. Since the Russian government had the war with Japan (1904/5) largely financed by the bank, its financial strength sank rapidly, and Russian influence in China fell sharply. Fresh French capital was created by the merger - on October 2nd jul. / October 15th greg. Publication of the new statute from July - provided with the Banque du Nord . The 186666 shares now represented 35 million rubles.
By January 1, 1909, the capital had gradually increased to R 23,415,000 and the reserve fund was R 5,612,786. The bank was part of the six-man consortium that negotiated the first reorganization loan of £ 25 million with the Republic of China in 1913 . The concession for the Pin-Hei railway to be built was acquired through the contract of March 27, 1916 . One director was the industrialist Alexei L. Putiloff.
After the liberation of Russia in 1917 and the expulsion of the imperialist aggressors from Siberia , there was a lasting reallocation of assets in the home country, so that the branches there were closed. The headquarters were moved to Paris.
The branches in China were reorganized under the old name after the First World War and capitalized at 55 million rubles. In 1920 there were branches in North China in: Newchwang, Dairen, Changchun , Tieling , Kirin , Harbin and Tsitsihar . There was also an offshoot in Yokohama , Japan .
In 1926 there was massive speculation on the Paris foreign exchange market. It closed on September 26th after a loss of over £ 5 million. The final liquidation was completed in 1928. The Chinese government tried to enforce legal claims in the USA in 1932-8.
Banknotes
Like numerous other foreign banks , at a time when there was no single Chinese currency and foreign trade was controlled by foreign powers, the institute issued silver-backed banknotes in several locations until 1926. These were denominated in dollars , rubles or local currencies such as mace and tael . The notes were usually labeled in Russian and Chinese, with the name of the house and the value also appearing in English. Some editions were revalued in times of crisis by overprinting.
Issuing branches were: Harbin (1910: $ emergency money, 1917: ruble), Newchwang (from 1907: $), "Kuld'sha, Chugchak & Kashgar" (1913-7: Gold-Fen), Shanghai (from 1914: " local dollar ”and“ Mexican dollar ”) and Tientsin (from 1917: $).
literature
- Crisp, Olga; Russo-Chinese Bank: An Episode in Franco-Russian Relations; Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 52, No. 127 (Apr. 1974), pp. 197-212.
- Quested, RKI; The Russo-Chinese Bank: a Multinational Financial Base of Tsarism in China; Birmingham University Press, 1977.
- Zhaojin Ji; A History of Modern Shanghai Banking: The Rise and Decline of China's Finance Capitalism; Armonk, NY 2003 (ME Sharpe).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Technically also a Russian institute but with close ties to the Sociétè Générale pour Favoriser le Developpement du Commerce et de l'lndustrie en France.
- ↑ Details in: Grands traités politiques: recueil des principaux textes diplomatiques de 1815 à 1914 , Paris 1923
- ↑ The entire 5 million capital of the Société du chemin de fer Chinois de l'Est (AG under Russian law, in which no third-country nationals were allowed to hold shares. Director always Chinese, post vacant 1901-17) was completely advanced by the bank. The China Year Book 1921/2, p. 652
- ↑ The post was then usually filled in personal union with the respective French ambassador. Crips (1974), pp. 207ff.
- ↑ In return, a director of Russo-Chine was appointed to the board of directors of Indochine . For this reason, in 1900 they initially refrained from opening a branch in Hong Kong, but then founded it in 1903. Crisp (1974), pp. 206, 209f.
- ↑ The new branch building on the Bund , planned by the German architect Heinrich Becker, was occupied in 1903. Today it houses the foreign exchange and gold exchange.
- ↑ Russian investments in China: 1902 $ 246.5 million (31.3% of the total), 1914 $ 269.3 million (16.7%). Spence, Jonathan D .; China's Path to Modernity; Bonn 2008; ISBN 978-3-89331-867-4 . P. 347
- ↑ Capitaliste: journal de la banque parisienne , Paris November 3, 1910, p. 724. ( ISSN 1252-4360 )
- ↑ А. И. Путилов cf. Путилов, Алексей Иванович
- ↑ Represented by Yao Yung-li (* 1900). Who's Who in China, 5th ed., Shanghai, p. 274
- ↑ The circulation of Russian nites was not always welcomed by the Chinese, and in some cases was actively fought against. See Like Cattle and Horses: Nationalism and Labor in Shanghai, 1895–1927; Duke University Press, 2002, p. 45