Table Of ContentInternational Banking
1870-1914
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International Banking
1870-1914
EDITED BY
RONDO CAMERON
V. I. BOVYKIN
WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF
Boris Anan'ich, A. A. Fursenko,
Richard Sylla, and Mira Wilkins
New York Oxford
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1991
Oxford University Press
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Copyright © 1991 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
International banking, 3870-1914 / edited by Rondo Cameron and
V. I. Bovykin with the assistance of Boris Anan'ich . . . [et al.].
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN0-19-506271-X
1. Banks and banking, International—History. I. Cameron, Rondo E.
II. Bovykin, Valerli Ivanovich. III. Anan'ich, B, V.
HG3881.1575123 1991
332.1'5'09034—dc20 89-26656 CIP
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
Royalties from this book accrue to the
International Research and Exchanges Board,
an affiliate of the
American Council of Learned Societies.
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Preface
The idea of carrying out a coliaborative study, the results of which are submitted here,
first arose at the Eighth International Economic History Congress in Budapest (1982),
in the course of the work of Section B-10, "Transformation of Banking Structures in
the Industrial Period."
The interaction of production and credit in the process of capitalist development,
and the role of banks therein, has long been the subject of study by economists and
historians. The problems involved have been discussed more than once at congresses of
the International Economic History Association. The Second Congress (Aix-en-
Provence, 1962) focused on the problem of capital formation in the early stages of
industrialization. The Fifth Congress (Leningrad, 1970) examined the role of bank
credit in economic development. While these studies were aimed at establishing the
role of banks as factors in economic development and, in particular, pursued the task of
defining their place in the course of industrialization of individual countries, the
participants in Section B-10 at the Budapest Congress were concerned with elucidat-
ing the reciprocal effects of industrialization processes on the banks and the changes
occurring in them as they adapted themselves to the requirements of industrial develop-
ment. The papers presented there and the discussion of them showed that in order to
understand the mechanism of transformation of bank structures in individual countries
at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, when the
integration and internationalization of capital markets intensified sharply, it is especial-
ly important to examine the international aspects of the development of banking.
Originally, we planned to examine two aspects: (1) the impact of international
factors on the formation of financial systems in separate countries, and (2) the relation-
ship between banks and multinational enterprises. But in the process of elaborating the
structure of the project we decided to treat specially the activity of foreign banks as
channels of foreign investments through case studies of several countries in the history
of which foreign capital played a particularly conspicuous role. Because this role
differed from country to country, countries were singled out as objects of study that
differed in the character and level of economic development and also in their political
status. It should be stressed that both Part I (International Factors in the Formation of
Banking Systems) and Part II (Foreign Banks and Foreign Investment) examine the
integral process of internationalization of bank structures. But in Part I the accent is on
the development of domestic banks, whereas in Part II it is on the activity of foreign
banks. This is why chapters devoted to the United States and Russia appear in both
viii Preface
sections. Other countries are discussed either in Part I or in Part II depending on
whether the accent is on elucidating the processes of formation of banking systems in
these countries or defining the impact produced on them by foreign banks.
Although we have included many countries and regions in our study, and hope
thereby to have a representative sample of both capital-exporting and capital-importing
nations, it was obviously impossible within the limits of our finances to include all
countries and regions of the world. It is a matter of regret, nevertheless, that we did not
include chapters on two small but important capital exporters, Switzerland and the
Netherlands. Initially the difficulty of identifying appropriate participants constrained
us; and the quantitative dimensions of their capital exports did not seem to make their
omission important. As our study developed, however, the strategic international im-
portance of their banking systems, especially that of Switzerland, became clearer. We
hope that other scholars will remedy this deficiency.
Professor A. A. Fursenko of the Institute of History of the USSR in Leningrad
first suggested undertaking the project at the Budapest Congress. The preliminary plan
of the study, which became an activity of the US-USSR Commission on the Human-
ities and the Social Sciences of the American Council of Learned Societies and the
Academy of Sciences of the USSR, was drawn up in April 1983 at a meeting in
Moscow of Professors Bovykin and Cameron, in which Professor Fursenko and Pro-
fessor Boris Anan'ich, also of Leningrad, likewise participated. A further planning
conference took place in Atlanta in September 1984, in which Professors Richard Sylla
and Mira Wilkins participated, along with Anan'ich, Bovykin, and Cameron. Mean-
while, the other participants had been identified and contacted, and permission was
received from the Rockefeller Foundation to hold a conference at the foundation's
Study and Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy. At that meeting, August 19-23, 1985,
preliminary drafts of all the chapters were discussed. Most of the participants presented
brief resumes of their studies at the Ninth International Congress of Economic History
in Berne, Switzerland, in August 1986. A final editorial meeting took place in San
Francisco in September 1987, in connection with the annual meeting of the Economic
History Association, with the participation of Anan'ich, Bovykin, Cameron, Sylla,
and Wilkins. Dr. Ruth Roosa also participated in that meeting. The book was substan-
tially complete by the summer of 1988, at which time Oxford University Press agreed
to publish it. We had hoped to present it at the Tenth International Economic History
Congress in Leuven, Belgium, in August 1990, but unforseen delays repeatedly
postponed publication.
Because we believe this project to be unusual if not unique in the annals of
collaborative international research in history and social science, a few words about the
nature of our collaboration are in order. It should be obvious from our nationalities and
institutional affiliations that the participants do not all belong to the same school of
historical or social science research, yet we are all conscientious scholars seeking to
discover the truth about the past. Although we sometimes differ in our interpretations
of the significance of past events—that is the reason for two separate concluding
sections in the final chapter—at no time in our collaboration have ideological differ-
ences prevented fruitful discussions of the facts or hindered full and frank consider-
ation of the issues. We hope that our fortunate experience, along with parallel develop-
ments in the loftier spheres of international politics and statecraft, augurs well for the
Preface ix
future of peaceful, productive international collaboration in all aspects of the human
endeavor.
Administrative and financial support for the project has been provided by the
International Research and Exchanges Board, an affiliate of the American Council of
Learned Societies, and by the USSR Academy of Sciences under the agreement on
scientific cooperation between the Soviet Academy and the American Council. The
Rockefeller Foundation generously provided hospitality for the Bellagio meeting, and
additional financial support for travel expenses for that meeting came from the Maison
des Sciences de 1'Homme (Paris) and the British Council. Individual participants
received support from their institutions or governments.
In the course of our work on this book the several participants have accumulated
obligations to many individuals too numerous to list here. Collectively, however, we
wish to acknowledge the aid and assistance of three exceptional persons: Dr. Wesley A.
Fisher, Secretary to the Commissions with the USSR of the American Council of
Learned Societies; Ms. Susan E. Garfield, Coordinator of the Bellagio Study and
Conference Center; and Ms. Arlene DeBevoise of Emory University, coordinator of the
project, who also undertook the laborious task of processing and reprocessing the
numerous drafts of the manuscript. Dr. Irina Diakanova, of the Institute of History of
the USSR, served as coordinator of the project in Moscow.
V. B.
R. C.
