Yokohama Specie Bank

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Headquarters of the Yokohama Specie Bank (built in 1904, architects: Morinaka Tsumaki and Oto Endo; today: Kanagawa Museum of Cultural History)

The Yokohama Specie Bank ( Japanese 横 浜 正 金 銀行 , Yokohama Shōkin Ginkō , short: YSB ) was a Japanese, semi-state foreign trade bank . After 1895, its main role was to finance and promote trade with China , while the London branch acted as Japan's central bank in Europe.

The US Occupation Authority ( SCAP ) organized the institute in 1947 to Tōkyō Ginkō , which is now called Mitsubishi Tōkyō UFJ Ginkō .

Foundation and capital

In November 1879, Nakamura Michita ( 中 村 道 太 ), spokesman for a consortium of 23 capitalists, applied for the establishment of a three million silver yen (¥) capitalized bank under the provisions of the National Banking Law , whose business purpose was to finance foreign trade, currency exchange and Provision of paper money in the East Asian region should be. Typically for the state support of big capitalist enterprises customary at the time, the government contributed a third of the capital. Operations began on February 23, 1880. Nakamura headed the institute until 1882. He was followed by Ono Mitsukage ( folg 光景 ) for half a year . The company was originally planned to run for twenty years, which was extended in 1900 for the same period. As with all semi-public banks ( tokusho ginkō ) foreigners were not allowed to purchase shares.

In view of the special tasks of the YSB, a special regulation (No. 29) was issued in July 1887 to regulate the tasks. A government auditor was appointed. Its semi-annual audited balance sheet has been published. One received the exclusive assignment for the handling of foreign business. The national bank Nippon Ginkō ( Nichigin ) subsidized the YSB by rediscounting foreign bills of exchange, foreign exchange, etc. at only 2%. The state mandate and business conduct of the bank from 1895 to 1945 fits the theory that imperialism is the highest form of capitalism .

The working capital was increased several times, for the first time in 1887 to six million (4½ paid in). At the end of 1899, twelve million had been reached. Sales rose from 1.43 billion in 1893 to 7.19 billion just five years later. By September 1911, the capital rose to ¥ 48 million (30 million of which had been paid in) and there were 20.4 million in the reserve fund. From 1898 to the First World War , a constant dividend of twelve percent was paid out. In 1920 the bank was capitalized to one hundred million (61 paid in).

Executives

The amalgamation between big banks, zaibatsu and government offices that was common for the developing high capitalism of the late Meiji and Taishō period is noticeable in the leadership of the YSB. The presidents of the bank included:

1883 to 1890 Hara Rokuro (1844–1933), one of the first Japanese to study in Europe after the opening, probably one of the most important businessmen of his time. Sonoda Kōkichi (President 1890-1897) began his career in the Foreign Office, as consul in London he had spent six months at the Bank of England. Sōma Nakatane followed him until 1906. Together with manager Koizumi Shinkichi, he overlooked the expansion of the business on the mainland. Baron Takahashi Korekiyo (* July 1854) started as manager in 1895, became director in 1896, vice-president in 1897. He held the same office at Nippon Ginkō, then he was also president of the YSB. He was later several times finance minister for the first time in the Yamamoto cabinet 1913/14 , leading in the Rikken Seiyūkai and prime minister 1921/22. Sutokeru Takahashi , who rose to the position of domestic director around 1904, was a lawyer who had been adopted into the Fukuoka clan. Tsuchiko Kionjiro started his career at Nippon Ginko, then was Deputy Branch Manager in London. In July 1897 he was elected vice president, from June 1912 he was president, but he soon resigned due to illness. Viscount Yatarō Mishima , was a director from 1897, president from 1911 to 1913, then head of Nippon Ginko. Inoue Junnosuke (* 1866) was vice from 1911 to 1913, then president until 1919. He was also politically active in the Seiyūkai and was killed in the incident on May 15, 1932 as chairman of the Mitsui-Zaibatsu . For Iwasaki Koyata (1879–1945, baron) the presidential post was just one of many; he later became foreign minister and inherited the board of the Mitsubishi- Zaibatsu. Kajiwara Nakaji (1919-22) also came from the central bank and later took over the management of the same. Kodama Kenji ( 児 玉 謙 次 ) served 14 years until 1936. Ōkubo Toshikata , son of the politician Ōkubo Toshimichi , began his career in the London branch, which he managed from 1923. He led the YSB during the war until 1943.

As of September 30, 1945, the imperial household was the largest shareholder.

Banknote issues in China

10 yuan note from the Hankow branch (series 1917).

The right to issue notes overseas was granted to the YSB in September 1901. One third of the emissions had to be covered in the issuing branch. A total of nine branches on the Chinese mainland issued notes that were similar in design and that were replaced by new series in 1917/18. Starting in Tientsin in November 1902 (branch since Aug. 1899) and Shanghai (branch 1893), silver-covered notes were issued that were denominated in dollars or tael . With the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War , notes circulated in Manchuria were added to the local war financing of the Kwantung Army . The military issued notes of 10, 5 and 1 yen as well as 50, 20 and 10 sen. The Ministry of Finance transferred ¥ 15¼ million to cover the notes . In 1906 a new ordinance regarding the issue of banknotes in the occupied territory followed. In 1912 just under two million of these notes had not been redeemed, in 1920 900,000, of which an estimated 300,000 were still in circulation.

Silver-covered notes followed in Beijing (1910), the occupied Tsingtau (1915), Hankow (1917; today: Wuhan ), Tsinan (1920) and Harbin (1921). A total of at least 88 different types were emitted. Since 1913, applied law in Dairen (russ .: Dalny issue) notes, was the Chosen Ginko ceded the gold-backed but notes the YSB remained legal tender in the occupied territories of Kwang Tung to 30 November 1917th At the same time, the Andong branch opened in 1907 was closed . When the Yuan Shikai government abolished the convertibility of Chinese notes in 1916, the need for "good money" increased and with it the circulation of the notes issued by the YSB throughout China. Total 1915: 7 million gold yen, end of 1916: 18 million, in mid-1919 by 20 million, rapidly decreasing over the next few years, then increasing again to ø 13 million in 1928–31, and then decreasing until it was abolished in early 1936 . The bank's issues were never designed as “occupation money”, but served the actual local needs in a politically and economically chaotic time, when “China” existed more as a geographical term than as a state.

Business operations

Former branch in Shanghai on Bund 24 (today: Industry and Commerce Bank of China)

After the main office in Yokohama , a first branch was opened in June 1880 in Kobe . The branch in Niu-chiang, Manchuria, quickly became important . This was followed by the gradual opening of foreign branches in international financial and trading centers until 1917: in London , Bombay (agency 1894), Hong Kong (agency 1896, branch 1900), Lyon , San Francisco , Hawaii , Buenos Aires , Rangoon , Surabaya . There were also agencies in New York , Calcutta , Sydney , Tsingtao , Manchuria and China. The bank was not allowed to accept deposits from private individuals in Japan proper. Before 1900 about 60% of the deposits were in branches in Europe, a quarter in America and about 6% in India. Through the establishment of several branches on the Chinese mainland, the ratio shifted to the detriment of America until 1913, so that about a third of the deposits were in (geographical) China. Immediately after the First World War, YSB was the most profitable bank in Japan. At that time it was connected to about 350 correspondent banks worldwide.

Immediately after the founding - the Bank of Japan was not created until two years later - it was the task of the YSB through the sale of silver coins , the rapid rise in prices, the abundance of rapidly decaying irredeemable notes from 1879/80, which were used for the settlement of the Samurai had emitted to brake. This attempt to keep the silver price low had to be stopped in February 1881.

In March 1886, the bank was granted the license to run the short-lived state lottery . The entire Chinese war indemnity was also paid in several installments to the branch in London. From 1896 this branch acted as the Japanese state bank in what was then the most important financial center in the world. After the placement of Japanese foreign bonds began by Law 101 of April 1899, this became an important area of ​​responsibility, primarily of the London branch.

Since the protests against the Twenty-One Demands, anti-colonialism in China has repeatedly taken the form of boycotts by Japanese companies, including in 1919-21 and in 1931 after the Wanpaoshan incident ( 万宝山 事件 ). The bank's Chinese branches were hit hard by the decline in sales. Despite the boycott, profit for the first half of 1932 was 11.2 million yen and the dividend was 10%.

Manchuria / Manchukuo

1 Yuan note (1917–1930 series). Back English "1 Dollar Local Currency"

The branch in Dairen , founded in 1906, grew rapidly; in 1918 it had around fifty employees. The promotion of exports through low interest rates became more and more important for large Japanese companies that wanted to expand in the region. After 1931 in particular, numerous major projects for the southern Manchurian railway and the Manchukuo state were financed .

Great Depression and War Economy

Counter hall in 1944

The entire Japanese foreign trade was made completely sub-state control by the war legislation of 1938, the YSB was the executive organ of the economic control.

On July 19, 1938, the National Bank provided the bank with ¥ 300 million for a foreign trade fund. On May 6, 1941, Japan signed a trade agreement with the French Indochina administration , according to which the mutual exports and imports were offset by clearing procedures between the Banque Indochina and the YSB.

During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong , only two banks, Yokohama Specie Bank and the Bank of Taiwan , were reopened, while the remaining banks were liquidated by the Japanese. In the occupied Dutch East Indies , the institute took over the operation of the commercial banks (the savings banks took over a Syomin Ginko ).

See also

literature

  • Horesh, Niv; Money for Empire: The Yokohama Specie Bank Monetary Emissions Before and After the May Fourth (Wusi) Boycott of 1919; Modern Asian Studies, Mch 2013; Pp. 1-26.
  • Ishii Kanji; Japanese Foreign Trade and the Yokohama Specie Bank, 1880-1913; in: Checkland Olive; Shizuya Nishimura; Norio Tamaki (eds.); Pacific Banking, 1859-1959: East Meets West; Hampshire 1994.
  • The Yokohama Specie Bank ; in: Journal of Commerce and Commercial Bulletin (Ed.); A History of Banking in all the Leading Nations…; New York 1896.
  • Nishimura, Takeshi; The Activities of the Yokohama Specie Bank in the Foreign Trade Financing Operations for Raw Cotton before the First World War; in: The Origins of International Banking in Asia: The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries; Oxford 2012; ISBN 9780199646326 .
  • 平 智 之; 第 1 次 大 戦 前 の 国際 金本位制 下 に お け る 横 浜 正 金 銀行; 金融 経 済 上 : (208) (Oct. 1984), pp. 41-81, 下 : (209) (Oct. 1984), pp. 1-27.
  • Tamaki Norio; Japanese Banking: a History, 1859-1959; Cambridge 1995 (Cambridge Univ. Press).
  • Tōkyō Ginkō; Yokohama Shōkin Ginkō Zenshi; Tōkyō 1980-1984; 6 vols.
  • [Anon.]; Yokohama Specie Bank Opens New Quarters for Shanghai Branch; in: Far Eastern Review, Vol. 20 (1924,9); Pp. 420-423.
  • Yokohama Shokin Ginko; in: Japan in the Taishō Era; Tokyo 1917; P. 231 [paid advertising entry]

Web links

Commons : Yokohama Specie Bank  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archives in the Japanese National Archives a . a .: 横 浜 正 金 銀行 の 旧 勘定 の 資金 の 整理 に 関 す る 政令 （大 蔵 省） or 昭和 ２４ ～ ２６ 年 特殊 整理 期間 中 日 計 表 綴 ・ 特殊 財産 管理 勘定 ・ 内 訳 帳
  2. ↑ Japanese: yes: 国立 銀行 条例 . See: A Comparison of National Banks in Japan and the United States between 1872 and 1885 (IMES Discussion Paper No. 2000-E-21; PDF; 433 kB)
  3. ↑ Part of this task was delegated to other banks, for example in 1916. B. to the venerable Kajima Ginkō , Osaka.
  4. ↑ See Mitani Taichirō; Japan's International Financiers and World Politics, 1904-1931; British Association for Japanese Studies, Proceedings (1980), pp. 29-53, 209-212.
  5. ^ Biogr .: Smethurst, Richard J .; From foot soldier to finance minister Takahashi Korekiyo, Japan's Keynes; Cambridge, Mass. [u. a.] 2007 (Harvard Univ. Asia Center); XIV, 377 pp.
  6. ↑ Yokohama Specie Bank. List of owners of 1,000 or more shares of Yokohama Specie Bank stock as of September 30, 1945; National Archives: Records of the Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence (G-2) - Entry 85A: Classified Numerical Series of Intelligence; Documents (MIS # 231602), 1944-1955
  7. ↑ illustrations
  8. ↑ Law 1 of March 1906. For the overseas possessions that became part of the Empire, separate central banks were created: Taiwan Ginko ( Law 38 of 1897) and Chosen Ginko (founded Nov. 1909) for the Korean peninsula.
  9. ↑ Chōsen Ginko ( 朝鮮 銀行 ; Ed.); Economic History of Manchuria Compiled in Commemoration of the Decennial of the Bank of Chōsen; Seoul 1920
  10. ↑ In the west wing of the new branch building from 1935 is the city museum today.
  11. ^ Niuzhuang , opened August 1900; ( 牛莊 also Newchwang at the time). First banknote issue January 1903 ($ and Tael). Branch in Beijing from January 1902 with own notes from March 1903.
  12. ↑ On the bank's activities there see: Warner, Fred; Anglo-Japanese financial relations a golden tide; Oxford 1991 (Blackwell)
  13. ^ Institute of Pacific Relations, American Council; Memorandum on the Chinese Boycott; Memorandum Vol. 2, No. 5 (Mar. 16, 1933), pp. 1-3
  14. ↑ cf. z. B. Horesh (2013)
  15. ↑ YOKOHAMA SPECIE BANK. . In: The Brisbane Courier (Qld .: 1864-1933) , National Library of Australia, October 20, 1932, p. 10. Retrieved March 18, 2013. 
  16. ↑ See Japan's war economy 1941–1945 (PDF; 5.8 MB)
  17. ↑ Accord franco-japonais relatif au régime douanier, aux échanges commerciaux et à leur modalités de rèlement entre l'Indochine et le Japon. Ratified and in effect July 5th. Differences of more than 5 million yen had to be settled with gold, rubber was still billed in US dollars. Changeover to a fixed exchange rate December 28, 1941, then transfer yen on January 1, 1943. Tabuchi Yukichika; Indochina's Role in Japan's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere: A Food Procurement Strategy; in: Indochina in the 1940s and 1950s; Ithaca NY 1992; ISBN 0-87727-401-0
Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Nakamura is the family name, Michita the first name.