Moscow Narodny Bank
Московский Народный Банкь
Banque Populaire de Moscou
Other city spellings: Moscou, Moskau
The bank was formed in 1911 in Moscow and opened for business in 1912. Initial capital was 1,000,000 roubles in shares of 250 roubles. By 1917, the capital had increased to 4,000,000 roubles, with a further capital increase to 10,000,000 roubles that same year.
The bank was formed on the model of the German Raiffeisen bank, to regroup the 1500 or so local and small credit cooperatives; it was nationalised in 1918. A London subsidiary, under the same name, opened in 1916, and became from 1919 onwards, the London bank of the Soviet Government. Its main function was trade finance, but it was instrumental in gaining western finance for development projects in the Soviet Union.
1911
Description
Moscow Narodny Bank was established under the Articles of Association approved by the Ministry of Finance on March 3, 1911 (published in the Collection of Edicts and Executive Orders of the Government of Russia on September 29, 1911). It opened in Moscow on May 9, 1912.
The idea of setting up such a bank occurred at the First All-Russian Convention of Representatives of Cooperative Establishments in 1908 and was endorsed afterwards by annual conventions of cooperators.
The purpose of setting-up and operating the Moscow Narodny Bank was determined as follows: “to deliver monetary funds to small loan institutions and all kinds of cooperative enterprises in order to ease their turnovers”.
The management located in Moscow was designated as the bank governing body, and the function of the controlling body was allocated to the Board. Capital assets of the bank amounted to 1 million roubles upon its founding and 4 million roubles in 1917.
The original building of the bank was located at Myasnitskaya Street in Moscow. In 1912 the office at No.4 Bolshaya Dmitrovka opened its doors for the general public. Branches of the bank were set up in all district towns of the Moscow government.
Since 1912, Moscow Narodny Bank has become the major mortgage lending facilitator in Russia and has been at the head of the small loan institution system.
Moscow Narodny Bank had 12 branches, agencies and commission offices in different towns and cities of European Russia, Siberia, Far East and Caucasus, including Petrograd, Vladivostok, Perm, Tiflis (Tbilisi), Irkutsk, Samarkand, Tashkent and Bukhara.
Bank agencies were established in London (1915) and New York (1916). In 1916 the London agency was reorganized into a fully valid subsidiary.
By 1916, the bank turnover had increased up to 1.2 million roubles.(Source: Wikipedia)