This week the world celebrated Bank Worker's Day. The concept of “banker” in the public consciousness is almost equal to a “celestial being,” but, in truth, this is exactly the same profession with all the clear advantages and not immediately obvious disadvantages, like any other. Taking this opportunity, we decided to talk about how the first banks appeared.

The Birth of Banks in Babylon

Already in the 7th century BC there were moneylenders, prototypes of today's bankers, and even the first bank notes in history - gudu, which were in circulation on a par with gold (there is documentary evidence of this at that time).

Surely there were similar characters in Egyptian history, judging by the scope of ancient civilization, the frequency of wars and merchant contacts with other countries, but reliable sources confirming this fact could not be found.

Banks in Ancient Greece

It is known that there were money changers there - trapezites. They accepted money for safekeeping and, of course, exchanged it. Operations were also carried out there, which in modern language can be called “cash settlement services”: the required amounts were credited to the accounts of the then clients and debited from them in a non-cash manner. It was possible to borrow from these same people - exactly the working capital that was in storage was used.

Mensarii and Argentarii in Ancient Rome

The former were mainly engaged in exchanging money, the latter took funds for storage and issued loans, making transfers, including between cities. Again, non-cash payments were in use.

Banking in the Middle Ages

By this time, the demand for the services of bankers had grown very much: trade between countries was becoming more and more intense, so that the significantly increased population of Europe had quite a lot of different coins on hand.

Then the word “bank” itself arose - from the word denoting the shop in which the money changers sat: banco means “bench, bench” translated from Italian. Of course, these institutions not only exchanged money, but also kept accounts and engaged in non-cash payments.

The Jewish Question in Banking

The Catholic Church turned out to be an ardent opponent of charging interest, so it is not surprising that rather quickly the conduct of banking affairs passed to bearers of another faith - the Jews. Being a banker, thus, became not only a profitable business, but at times also deadly: persecution of representatives of this nation broke out in European countries every now and then. Sometimes the governments of various countries, at the right moments, significantly replenished their treasuries by selling bankers the right to return to their country - naturally, they willingly paid in order to return to their homes.

First official bank

This can be considered the first partnership created in the Genoese Republic. This bank was given the function of collecting taxes, primarily to finance the wars in Algeria and Tunisia in 1147. This oldest bank in history existed until 1816.

The creation of the first state bank dates back to 1584: it was Banco della Piaza, established by decision of the Senate of the Venetian Republic.

The emergence of the “bank florin”

The concept was first introduced by the newly opened Bank of Amsterdam in 1609. “Bank florin” is a monetary unit that can be equated to the weight of pure silver - this is how all coins received by the bank were counted.

Bank of issue

British subject William Peterson, observing the activities of the above-mentioned bank, made a very bold discovery for those times: the bank did not have to physically keep reserves of precious metals in its storerooms to guarantee coverage of its own obligations.

Already in 1694, according to his project, the Bank of England was created - it became responsible for issuing paper money. For the first time in the history of banking, capital was placed in government securities, which backed the issued banknotes.

The emergence of banking in Russia

In our country, the history of banking dates back to the 17th century: in Pskov in 1665, the first kind of credit partnership in Russia for merchants arose in Russia.

In 1733, Empress Anna Ioannovna authorized the issuance of loans for various types of business at that time at a certain percentage from the mint. And the first banks that handled loans in the modern sense appeared on the personal order of the “cheerful queen” Elizabeth - although she became famous as a lover of entertainment, she definitely knew a lot about business at the state level.

The first banking institutions in Russia

Then, in 1754, two financial institutions were opened at once - the Noble Loan Bank with representative offices in St. Petersburg and Moscow - it provided short-term loans to nobles secured by estates - and the Merchant Bank in St. Petersburg (loans were issued against the security of goods, precious metals and against the guarantees of city magistrates).

In 1797, the Auxiliary Noble Bank was opened: its feature was the issuance of long-term mortgage loans not in money, but in bank notes with a forced exchange rate. Both private individuals and the treasury were required to accept them as payment.

In 1817, the State Commercial Bank was opened, which, in addition to working with deposits, carried out free transfers - transfers; issuing loans and accounting for ordinary and bills of exchange were especially popular among the population.

The bank enjoyed enormous privileges - there was no need to pay taxes on capital and deposits and they could not be used to finance government spending. The state controlled the bank quite strictly: half of the directors were appointed from above, and all decisions of the board regarding the active operations of the bank also had to be approved higher.

Banking reform of 1861

Simultaneously with the abolition of serfdom, another significant event occurred - all state credit institutions were liquidated and commercial banks emerged in their place.

By 1872, the Russian banking system included a state bank, public city and land banks, private lending banks of varying durations and under different types of collateral, and rural mutual credit savings and loan partnerships. By the end of the 19th century, there were about five thousand banking institutions of various types and formats in the country. Banking offices and trading houses appeared.

First World War and 1917 Revolution

The rapid and widespread development of the banking system was stopped by the First World War. In 1914, there was a renaissance with an attempt at growth, and already in 1917 it was completely reorganized by the new regime: a monopoly was declared on banking, the banks were nationalized and merged with the State Bank. It became known as the People's Bank of the RSFSR and was controlled by Narkomfin.

Banking policy in the USSR

A year later, any activity of foreign banks was prohibited; during the harsh policy of “war communism,” an attempt was made to centralize financing throughout the country, but by the advent of the NEP in the early 1920s, this idea was abandoned.

Then, until the end of the twentieth century, banking in the country essentially depended on the political and economic decisions of the leadership - they were not always competent and justified, so such steps often cost the population of a huge country a loss.

Late 90s - present day

With the adoption of new laws on banks and banking activities, many new banks and credit organizations appeared. Of course, the new banking system was very complex, contradictory and with huge mistakes and miscalculations. The main large banks were Sberbank and Vnesheconombank; at the very beginning of the formation of the banking structure according to the new principle, small banks either appeared like mushrooms after rain, then were declared bankrupt and disappeared - often along with the deposits of the population.

Today we can talk about some stabilization of this sector of the economy, but it is perhaps somewhat premature to speak about real stability.

According to the form of ownership, banks are divided into mutual, joint-stock and mixed, the bulk of banks are currently concentrated in the Central region of the country and the capital, the number of branches in Russia and abroad continues to grow.

Our country is characterized by universal banks that conduct almost all types of banking operations, but the network of specialized and narrowly focused banks, such as mortgage banks, is practically absent. In the structure of passive operations, the main place is occupied by ruble deposits of the population and legal entities.

“The policy of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation is now aimed at increasing the stability and reliability of the banking system,” experts say, “it should lead to the development of competitive, large and stable banks and gradually displace small and unreliable ones.”

The idea of ​​a bank dates back to 1800 BC. e. in Babylon. In those days, moneylenders offered loans to the population. In Greece and Rome, banks issued loans and accepted deposits. They also changed money.
However, with the collapse of the Roman Empire, trade fell and banks temporarily disappeared. Banking began to come alive again in the 12th and 13th centuries in the Italian cities of Florence and Genoa.

The first banks in England

In England, banks began to develop in the 17th century. Sometimes people deposited their money with jewelers for safety. The jewelers issued a written promise to pay the bearer a certain amount upon demand. Over time, people began to exchange these notes instead of coins because it was easier and safer. Jewelers began to accept money for safekeeping in exchange for high interest rates. They also paid interest to people who deposited money in order to attract their savings.
However, not only private individuals lent money. Governments also needed to borrow money, especially in wartime. The government borrowed money from rich people and later repaid it with interest from taxes.
However, at the end of the 17th century, the costs of the war with France were enormous. Thus, in 1694, the Bank of England was founded to provide credit to the government.

A group of financiers came together to provide the money needed to loan the government £1.2 million (a considerable sum in those days). In return, the bank received 8% interest on the loan and the right to issue. The Bank of England was also allowed to lend money and buy and sell gold.

The Bank of England is sometimes called "The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street". He actually moved to Threadneedle Street in 1734.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Scotland was founded in 1695.

In 1708, a law prohibited banks working with more than 6 partners from issuing their own notes. (Although smaller banks can still do this). However, the Bank of England conducted its operations mainly only in London. At the end of the 18th century, many small banks were founded in provincial towns.

However, banking crises are not a new phenomenon. In 1793, in 1814-1816 and in 1825, bank failures occurred due to people's distrust of them.

In 1826 the law was changed to allow large banks to work with many shareholders to form outside London. Many of the country's small banks have merged with large banks.
In 1833, banknotes issued by the Bank of England were legal tender (they had to be accepted in payment of debts).

Modern Banks

Modern banks began to operate after the adoption of the Charter of Banks in 1844. The act of dividing the Bank of England (which was still legally a private Bank) into two departments - the banking department and the issuing department. Since then, the Bank of England can only issue certificates if they were backed by gold or government securities.

The Charter of the Banks, a law that prohibited new banks from issuing banknotes. So banks lost the right to issue banknotes. So gradually the Bank of England became the only bank in England that could issue them.
At the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century, many banks merged until the end of the 20th century in Great Britain was dominated by "barclays="" lloyds="" midland="">
Bank of England

Meanwhile, in the 19th century, the use of checks to extract money and settlements became much more common. Traveler's checks were invented in the USA in 1891.
In 1946 the Bank of England was nationalized. Also in 1946, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (otherwise known as the World Bank) was formed.

History of banking starts from the 7th century BC. It is generally accepted that moneylenders existed in Babylon even then. And even the first bank notes - hudu, which circulated on a par with gold.

It is known that in Ancient Greece there were money changers - trapezites. They exchanged coins and accepted money for safekeeping. The first non-cash payments were also made there by crediting and debiting funds from customer accounts. That is, the first cash settlement services were carried out. In addition, ancient Greek temples provided loans from the savings that were stored in them.

Already in the 2nd century BC, in a number of megacities such as Thebes, Hermontis, Memphis and Siena, there were so-called royal banks, where funds from collecting taxes and income from state enterprises were accumulated. And the money was spent on public needs, for example paying salaries to soldiers.

In ancient Rome, banking activities were carried out by mensarii and argentarii. The first specialized in the exchange of coins. The second is to raise funds and issue loans, as well as money transfers between cities.

In the Middle Ages, the demand for bankers' services increased significantly: there were many different coins in circulation that needed to be changed for trade. Then the word “bank” arose - from the name of the bench where the money changers sat. Banco translated from Italian means “bench”, “bench”. Moreover, already at that time, bankers were engaged not only in exchange, but also in maintaining customer accounts, as well as non-cash payments.

It is known that the Catholic Church opposed the charging of interest, so banking in the Middle Ages became the prerogative of mainly Jews. Pope Alexander III declared at the Third Lateran Council in 1179 that those who take interest should be deprived of communion and Christian burial. Bankers were persecuted both in France - under Saint Louis and Philip the Fair, and in England - under Henry III. Interestingly, sometimes exiled bankers bought the right to return to the country, and this became a source of income for governments. In Italy, in the 1460s, the so-called montes pietatis arose - specialized institutions that collected donations and issued small loans to those in need at interest, which should only be enough to cover their own expenses.

One of the first banks is considered to be a partnership created in the Republic of Genoa, to which the function of collecting certain taxes was transferred in order to finance the wars in Algeria and Tunisia in 1147. It existed until 1816 and, among other services, accepted deposits from individuals. And the first state bank was Banco della Piaza de Rialto, created by decision of the Senate of the Venetian Republic in 1584.

The Amsterdam Bank was opened in 1609. He is known for introducing such a concept as the “bank florin” - a monetary unit equated to a certain weight of pure silver, into which all accepted coins were converted. The Englishman William Peterson, while studying the activities of the Amsterdam Bank, made a discovery: the bank does not need to have real 100% reserves of the precious metal to cover its own obligations. According to Peterson's project, in 1694 the first bank of issue in the modern sense, responsible for issuing paper money, was created - the Bank of England. Its capital was placed in government securities, which were the security for the issued banknotes.

The history of banking in Russia dates back to the 17th century. In Pskov in 1665, the first semblance of a credit organization for merchants appeared. Under Empress Anna Ioannovna, loans began to be issued from the mint for the first time at a certain percentage. And the first Russian credit institutions in the modern sense appeared in 1754 on the orders of Elizabeth Petrovna - Noble Loan Banks in St. Petersburg and Moscow and the Merchant Bank in St. Petersburg.

BANKS IN RUSSIA. The origin of commercial credit in Russia was connected, as in other countries, with the development of commodity circulation: already in the 17th century, many trade transactions were carried out with deferred payment, that is, on credit. The formation of the Russian credit system began with the emergence of state-owned credit institutions. Among them is the Coin Office [created under Peter I for minting coins, the functions of a bank (B.) began to perform after the decree of Empress Anna Ivanovna in 1733]; established in 1754 by decree of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna “On the punishment of moneylenders”, the Bank for the nobility under the Senate and the Senate Office, or the Noble Loan Bank (issued long-term loans to nobles secured by the estates they owned and the serfs who inhabited them, in 1786 it was transformed into the State Loan Bank , which existed until 1860), and the Bank for Correction at the St. Petersburg Port of Commerce, or Merchant Bank (on preferential terms it provided loans to merchants who carried out export trade through the St. Petersburg port; abolished in the late 1780s). Since 1769, there were banknote banks in Moscow and St. Petersburg, established by Empress Catherine II for the exchange of coins for banknotes; in 1786 they were transformed into the State Bank of Banknotes (abolished in 1843; in the years 1797-1817 there were accounting offices for lending to industry and trade). Loans to nobles were provided by the Auxiliary Bank for the Nobility (1797-1812). Initially, state-owned credit institutions carried out active operations mainly at the expense of funds provided to them by the treasury. The State Loan Bank was the first to actively attract deposits; in the 1st half of the 19th century, deposits became the main source of resources for both this bank and the State Commercial Bank (created by Emperor Alexander I in 1817 on the basis of the accounting offices of the State Assignment Bank, liquidated in 1860 year).

They accepted deposits and issued loans secured by populated estates. Preservation treasuries, formed in 1772 under the Guardianship Councils of the Moscow and St. Petersburg orphanages; abolished in 1888 in Moscow, in 1895 in St. Petersburg. Since 1775, deposits from persons of all classes were accepted by Orders of Public Charity - in fact, the first provincial banks in Russia. The charter granted to cities in 1785 allowed the establishment of city public banks (under the jurisdiction of city governments) to issue loans to residents for trade matters, as well as in case of need and misfortune. The charter of the bank published in 1811 in the city of Slobodskaya Vyatka province (opened in 1809 at the expense of the merchant K. A. Amfilatov) became a model for other city banks; by 1861 they existed in more than 20 cities (by 1875 there were 235). At the same time, in the 1st quarter of the 19th century, attempts were made to create credit institutions for peasants (they functioned on several estates, for example, on the Novgorod estate of A. A. Arakcheev Gruzino). According to Kiselyov’s reform of 1837-41, on lands inhabited by state peasants, the lowest level of credit institutions began to take shape - small loan cash desks, auxiliary cash desks, “worldly capital”, etc. In 1842, under the Preservation Treasurys in Moscow and St. Petersburg, later under Savings banks arose in branches of the State Bank, treasuries, etc. (8.5 thousand by 1914).

The end of the 18th century saw the emergence of private banking, associated with the development of trade, especially foreign trade. Merchant bankers combined trade operations with the provision of loans, transfer and exchange operations.

The legalization of this trade was initiated by the authorities: having concluded their first foreign loan in 1769, they began to constantly resort to the services of Western European bankers, and entrusted negotiations with them to some St. Petersburg merchants. In 1798-1811 there was an Office of Court Bankers; later, merchant bankers close to the court were unofficially trusted to negotiate new foreign loans and provide financial services to the royal family (these functions were performed by L. I. Stieglitz, and from 1843 by his son A. L. Stieglitz). In the 1st half of the 19th century, companies that combined trading and banking operations took a prominent place in the country's large commercial centers - St. Petersburg, Moscow (trading houses founded by immigrants from Germany I.V. Junker, L.G. Knop, M. M. Vogau), Warsaw (merchant bankers S. Kronenberg, S. Frenkel, J. Epstein), etc. Some of them had branches abroad. Branches of the Odessa company "M. Ephrussi and Co. in Paris and the Arkhangelsk Brandt firm in London later turned into independent banking houses. Original banking centers, closely related to trade, arose near large fairs (for example, bankers' offices serving the Kyiv Contract Fair were concentrated in Berdichev). Gradually, specialized banking firms began to emerge: either these were old firms of merchant bankers who had ceased to engage in trade, or new establishments founded specifically to carry out banking operations (among the latter, banking houses established in St. Petersburg by I.E. began to play an important role. Gunzburg, E. M. Meyer, F. P. Rodokonaki and L. M. Rosenthal).

Having begun preparations for the abolition of serfdom (see Peasant Reform of 1861), the government in 1859-60 liquidated many pre-reform state-owned banks and instead established a single State Bank of the Russian Empire, which served as the most important instrument for reforming the country’s socio-economic system.

The final stage in the formation of short-term commercial credit institutions was the 1860-70s. Since the mid-1860s, higher forms of credit institutions appeared - mutual credit societies (the first was founded in 1864 in St. Petersburg; Moscow opened in 1869; by 1914 there were 1,108 companies operating) and joint-stock banks (the first - St. Petersburg Private Bank - opened in 1864; Moscow Merchant Bank - in 1866; in 1868, banks appeared in the provinces - in Kiev and Kharkov; since 1869, when the St. Petersburg International Bank and the St. Petersburg Discount and Loan Bank were established, a banking boom began in Russia; by 1874 33 joint-stock banks were founded). At the same time, the formation of long-term land credit institutions was underway; it began with the emergence of urban credit societies that issued loans secured by real estate in cities (established in St. Petersburg in 1861, in Moscow in 1863; by 1900, 24 societies were operating). In the 1860s, the first post-reform land banks arose (Zemsky Bank of the Kherson Province and the Mutual Land Credit Society). However, joint-stock land banks became the main type of mortgage institutions (the first - Kharkov - was established in 1871 on the initiative of A.K. Alchevsky; 11 similar banks were created in 1871-1872). In the early 1870s, public organizations arose that represented the interests of credit institutions - Congresses of representatives of Russian land banks (13 in 1872-1917), Congresses of representatives of joint-stock commercial credit banks (3 in 1873-1917); their permanent bodies were committees elected at congresses. By the mid-1870s, almost all components of the Russian credit system were formed. Its significant additions were two state-owned mortgage institutions - the Peasant Land Bank (1882; issued loans to peasants secured by the lands they purchased, facilitated the conclusion of transactions for their purchase and sale) and the Noble Land Bank (1885; issued loans to nobles secured by estates for more than favorable conditions than the joint-stock land banks did).

The State Bank remained the largest commercial credit bank until World War I. The absolute primacy among short-term credit institutions, both in terms of resources and in terms of accounting and loan operations, belonged to joint-stock commercial banks: by 1914 there were 50 banks, of which 13 had a board in St. Petersburg (Russian-Asian, Azov-Don, Russian for foreign trade, Volga-Kama, Siberian trade, etc.), 8 - in Moscow (for example, United), 6 - in Warsaw, the rest - in other 15 cities; they had 778 branches, including 34 abroad. Russian commercial banks in their activities interacted with foreign banks that had interests in Russia. However, until 1917, only one foreign bank opened branches in Russia - the French “Crédit Lyonnais” (“Lyon Credit”) (the first was opened in 1878 under the guise of the banking firm Auguste Celerier in St. Petersburg, since 1879 it has been registered under its own name ; two more - in 1891 in Moscow and Odessa), in January 1917, a branch in Russia was opened by the National City Bank of New York (National City Bank of New York). Since the 1870s, Russian and foreign banks have cooperated in placing Russian government loans abroad, as well as government-guaranteed loans from Russian railway companies. Subsequently, they jointly financed industrial development in Russia.

The most numerous among short-term credit institutions were mutual credit societies (by 1914 the number of their full members reached over 634 thousand). Some of them (in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kyiv) were not inferior in resources to average joint-stock banks, but small ones predominated. They were focused on serving medium and small entrepreneurs mainly in the provinces, so most of them were located in county towns, but there were also villages and large villages. The leaders in the number of societies were the Kuban Region and the Don Army Region, as well as the southwestern provinces (Podolsk, Kherson, Bessarabian, Kiev, Volyn), which specialized in the production of grain and other agricultural products. Typical provincial credit institutions also included city public banks (over 300 by 1914). With very modest resources, they served primarily a small clientele; They were most common in Right Bank Ukraine and New Russia, as well as in the Tver, Yaroslavl, Kostroma and Vyatka provinces. Private banking institutions, as in the West, did not disappear with the advent of joint-stock commercial banks. Of the 300 banking houses (1913), about 20% were located in Moscow and St. Petersburg, the rest operated in the provinces - mainly in the Kingdom of Poland, the Baltic provinces, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. At the beginning of the 20th century, the role of small credit institutions that originated in the 1860s - credit partnerships, savings and loan partnerships, zemstvo small credit offices - began to rapidly increase; by 1914 there were about 20 thousand of them, up to 40% of peasant households received credit from them. The number of long-term credit institutions in 1914, in addition to the state-owned Noble and Peasant banks, included 10 joint-stock land banks (Bessarabian-Tavrichesky, Vilna, Don, Kiev, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod-Samara, St. Petersburg-Tula, Poltava, Kharkov, Yaroslavl-Kostroma) , Zemsky Bank of the Kherson Province, 3 noble credit societies (Estlyandskoe, Livlyandskoe and Kurlyandskoe) and 36 city credit societies. The lands accepted as collateral by all Russian mortgage institutions accounted for 56% of the lands that were privately owned (1915).

On the eve of World War I, there were credit institutions in more than 1 thousand settlements of the Russian Empire, Moscow and St. Petersburg occupied a special place among them (the activities of the banks located here had all-Russian significance), the largest regional centers were Warsaw and Kyiv. The war brought significant changes to the geography of the Russian banking system: banking institutions that served the western regions of the empire found themselves in occupied territory. Although the structure of the credit system remained unchanged, the importance of the capital's joint-stock commercial banks, which played the role of an intermediary between the state authorities and the sectors of the national economy working for defense, increased sharply.

After the October Revolution of 1917, in accordance with the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of December 14 (27), 1917, banks were nationalized [the demand for the nationalization and centralization of banks was contained in the economic platform of the party adopted in the summer of the same year at the 6th Congress of the RSDLP (b) and in the resolution on the establishment “national control” over banks, adopted on October 25 (November 7) at a meeting of the Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, which proclaimed the transfer of power to the Soviets].

In December 1917, the People's Bank of the RSFSR was formed by merging the State Bank with nationalized private joint-stock banks (carried out lending and financing operations for nationalized enterprises, etc., from March 1919, with the introduction of surplus appropriation, its operations decreased, in 1920, under the conditions of naturalization of the economy, it abolished, assets and liabilities were transferred to the Central Budget and Accounting Directorate of the People's Commissariat of Finance of the RSFSR). In 1921, the State Bank of the RSFSR was established (in 1923 it was transformed into the State Bank of the USSR) with very broad powers. It soon became clear that he alone was powerless to cope with the country's credit requests under the conditions of the NEP (a return to the free market of commodity producers, the revival of cooperation and money circulation). In 1922, consumer cooperation banks were established (in 1923 it was transformed into the All-Russian Cooperative Bank, or Vsekobank, since 1932 the All-Union Bank for Financing Capital Construction and Cooperation, liquidated in 1936), the Russian Commercial and Industrial Bank (in 1928 merged with Elektrobank, established in 1924, the joint-stock company “Bank for Long-Term Lending of Industry and Electrical Economy of the USSR - Prombank”) was formed, the Russian Commercial Bank (Roskombank; in 1924 it came under the jurisdiction of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Trade and was renamed the Bank for Foreign Trade of the USSR, or Vneshtorgbank). During the NEP period, a number of regional commercial banks operated (Dalbank in Khabarovsk, Asiabank in Tashkent, Commerzbank in Rostov-on-Don, etc.), as well as mutual credit societies. In December 1922, the Decree on the organization of state labor funds was adopted. Agricultural credit partnerships also operated - the lower level of credit cooperation, agricultural credit societies in provinces and regions, republican agricultural banks, and the Central Agricultural Bank of the USSR (established in April 1924). In 1925-26, a system of communal banks was formed.

In 1927-36, the banking system was restructured and a state monopoly on banking was established; long-term lending to the sphere of production and circulation was entrusted to the established Industrial Bank of the USSR, Torgbank of the USSR (abolished in 1957), Agricultural Bank of the USSR, Vsekombank of the USSR, Tsekombank of the USSR (abolished in 1959); short-term lending - to the State Bank of the USSR. In 1959, the functions of the abolished banks were transferred to the State Bank of the USSR and Stroybank of the USSR (former Industrial Bank of the USSR), a Russian republican office of the State Bank of the USSR was opened, which marked the beginning of the formation of the Republican Bank of Russia.

The highest level of monopoly of state banks achieved in the socialist economic system led to the fact that republican and local banks actually represented branches of the central State Bank of the country, directly subordinate to the government. The extreme centralization of the banking system made it possible to suppress inflation, stabilize monetary circulation, and restrain the growth of government internal and external debt. It was possible to carry out practically interest-free bank lending to state enterprises, especially state and collective farms; in a number of cases, debts to the State Bank were not returned and thereby turned into subsidies. Gradually, the boundaries of credit separating it from gratuitous financing turned out to be blurred, since it was often directed towards constant, and increased, production costs that were not covered by the output of the final product (in the structure of credit investments in 1985, according to the State Bank of the USSR, over 20%, or 76. 6 billion rubles were borrowed from loans not secured by commodity coverage). A system of subsidies developed, an increased demand for credit appeared, and a deficit in the USSR state budget formed, reaching several tens of billions of rubles.

In 1987, during perestroika, a new system of state banks was created: the State Bank of the USSR (freed from operational functions of lending and settlements, authorized to exercise control over all areas of activity of other banks and solve the main strategic tasks in the field of monetary policy), Vneshtorgbank (with 1988 Vnesheconombank of the USSR), Promstroibank of the USSR, Agro-Industrial Bank of the USSR, Zhilsotsbank of the USSR, Sberbank of the USSR (in 1990 transferred to the jurisdiction of the State Bank of the USSR). At the same time, the state monopoly in the banking sector was broken, and commercial banks began to emerge (over 260 in the 1988-90s). The purpose of the laws of the USSR “On the State Bank of the USSR” and “On the Bank and Banking Activities” adopted at the end of the 1990s was the formation of a unified system of central banks (the State Bank of the USSR, the central banks of the union and autonomous republics), performing the functions of a reserve system. However, its implementation was not allowed by the creation of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (Bank of Russia) on the basis of republican banks (July 1990; by the end of 1991, the property, assets and liabilities of the USSR State Bank on Russian territory were transferred to it), the national banks of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (1990 -92 years).

By 1995, over 2.5 thousand commercial banks were registered in the Russian Federation. During the financial crisis of 1998, many banks ceased to exist, and the resources and volumes of operations of other banks were significantly reduced. The economic stabilization that followed in 1999 stopped the process of collapse of the banking system. At the beginning of 2005, the Bank of Russia or the registration body authorized by its decision registered more than 1,500 credit institutions (33 of them with 100% foreign participation in the capital), including 1,299 banks. In terms of the amount of net assets and the size of equity capital, the largest are Sberbank of Russia, Vneshtorgbank, Gazprombank, Bank of Moscow, Alfa-Bank, Rosbank, etc.

See also the article Monetary system in the Economics section (volume “Russia”).

Lit.: Gindin I.F. Russian commercial banks. M., 1948; Ananich B.V. Banking houses in Russia. 1860-1914 St. Petersburg, 1991; Bovykin V.I., Petrov Yu.A. Commercial banks of the Russian Empire. M., 1994; Petrov Yu. A. Commercial banks of Moscow, late 19th century - 1914. M., 1998; Petersburg. History of banks. M., 2001; Proskuryakova N. A. Land banks of the Russian Empire. M., 2002.

N. D. Borkovsky, V. I. Bovykin.

The other day I read about scams in banks in Rus', I decided to read a little more about those times, about how everything got infected. A fairly brief excerpt from the material that I dug through might be interesting for anyone to read over the weekend. Now I understand why we have such f... And in the banking sector, because it has never been good, i.e. F... And this is a common condition that has existed for centuries))))
I’ll post about the scam in one bank on Sunday evening if I have time, there’s one guy there who’s done a lot of mischief, don’t play around.

The first appearance of credit institutions in Rus' occurred at the end of the 12th century, in Veliky Novgorod, which had close trade ties with the German merchants. During this era, Novgorod and Pskov were the richest cities where foreigners felt almost at home, since everything here was like in Hamburg or Lübeck.
Rus' adopted the basic provisions of Byzantine state law, accepted their organization of monetary transactions (the desire of the state to protect the monopoly in these matters, regulation of transactions and the amount of permissible interest). The right to engage in such a trade was farmed out. Pskov loan law formalized credit transactions on special “boards”. Debt obligations – promissory notes – were introduced into monetary circulation. According to the main legal document - Russian Pravda - the protection and procedure for ensuring the property interests of the creditor, the procedure for collecting debt, and types of insolvency were regulated.

In 1665, the Pskov governor A. Ordin-Nashchekin attempted to create a loan bank for small-scale merchants. Its functions were to be performed by the city government, operating with the support of large merchants. The lack of a clearly developed activity plan, determination of priorities, and opposition from the boyars and government officials determined the short-term nature of the actions of this bank.

The development of credit institutions in Rus' was long and slow. As a rule, Russian merchants had to take loans from foreign bankers, who provided money on truly enslaving terms. Under Alexei Mikhailovich, numerous projects were developed to create “banks,” but they all remained on paper; even Peter I the Great failed to cope with this task.

Prerequisites and first attempts to create the first banks in Russia (20-30s of the 18th century)
The first attempts to create banking in Russia date back to the late 20s and 30s. XVIII century, i.e. almost immediately after the death of Peter I the Great. In 1733, Empress Anna Ioannovna expanded and streamlined the activities of the Coin Office in terms of lending, issuing a special decree “On the rules for borrowing money.”
At the Coin Office it was possible to take out 8% loans secured by precious metals (“ and do not take diamonds and other things, as well as villages and households as collateral or ransom“) in an amount not exceeding 75% of the cost for a period of one year with the right to defer redemption for up to three years. Of course, such loans could only be taken out by court circles, i.e. limited circle of people. Some particularly influential dignitaries could “borrow” even without collateral.


Coin office

As a result, the activities of the Coin Offices as banks turned out to be insignificant and functioned on an extremely limited scale, until approximately 1736. However, the emergence of this type of activity of the Coin Office provided a precedent for some government agencies - completely far from finance and credit - to engage in “banking.” According to the Senate (1754), similar lending functions were carried out... The Post Office, the Main Commissariat (quartermaster department), the office of artillery and fortification, etc. The size of credit operations (collateral, terms, interest rate) remained a secret even for the highest government bodies!

The first real bank of Russia - Dvoryansky (1754-1786)
The true history of banks dates back to the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, when on June 23, 1754, the “Decree on the establishment of the State Loan Bank, on the procedure for issuing money from it and on punishing money lenders” was promulgated. The bank consisted of two actually independent parts - the Noble Bank (with offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg) and the “Bank for Correction at the St. Petersburg Port of Commerce.” The creator and developer of the bank's charter was Pyotr Ivanovich Shuvalov (1710-1762), a famous Russian statesman and military figure, field marshal, a gifted and energetic person, but suffering from Manilovism.
Among the two banks, the most viable was the Noble Bank, which existed until 1860. The bank’s clients were nobles of the empire (landowners) and foreigners who accepted “eternal” citizenship and owned real estate in pre-agreed regions of Russia (later the number of clients expanded to include the Baltic, Smolensk, Little Russian and other landowners).


The authorized capital of the Noble Bank was determined at 750.0 thousand rubles. The main functions of the bank included issuing loans in the amount of 500 to 10,000 rubles. at 6% (the so-called specified interest) with a payment period of no more than three years, secured by estates, precious metals, diamonds, stone houses (the bank did not accept deposits). The size of loans “for estates” depended on... the number of peasant souls.
To limit credit, each peasant (soul) was valued at 10 rubles. (although its cost was determined under Elizaveta Petrovna at 30 rubles). Later the price increased: in 1766 - 20 rubles, in 1786 - 40 rubles, in 1804 - 60 rubles.
The landowners took money that they did not intend to return. As a result, the government increased the authorized capital several times, and by 1786 it amounted to 6 million rubles. Due to the lack of banking specialists in Russia, the correct management of accounting affairs was very poor - not only in Dvoryansky, but also in other banks. Therefore, the government had to hire “Germans”, i.e. foreigners, and assign “trainees” to them for training. The main source of replenishment of deposits was still the state.
Initially, the Noble Bank did not accept private deposits, and if it did, only as an exception and for 1% of the amount paid to the bank. Now the following rules were established: the bank accepted deposits with the condition of paying 5% per annum. The number of first investors was small (in 1774 there were only 58 deposits) - this is not surprising. As expected, bank offices were unable not only to pay interest, but also to issue deposits on demand! The Moscow office of the Noble Bank even had to admit itself insolvent.
Higher government circles expressed concern about the current situation and the bank was asked to separate private deposits from other capital; deposits received guarantees from the government. Deposits were given selectively, “ according to seniority, who first filed an announcement about the return.”
The experience of several years of managing the Noble Bank demonstrated the great desire of landowners to take money, but not give it back. The question arose about replenishing banking capital in addition to government funds, and therefore in 1770 they decided to resort to the practice of accepting deposits.

Bank for merchants - “Bank for improvement at the St. Petersburg port of commerce” (1754-1782)
The government paid priority attention to the nobles, but it could not and did not want to completely ignore the interests of other classes, in particular the merchants. The merchants needed powerful financial support from the state (as the only source of receiving substantial sums of money), in particular, cheap credit.
In 1754, during the reign of Elizaveta Petrovna, on the initiative of the restless Shuvalov, the “Bank for Correction at the St. Petersburg Port of Commerce” was created. Since the bank was state-owned, it was placed under the leadership of the Commerce Collegium (hence its name - Commercial).
Soon the bank's affairs fell into disarray. Firstly, loans were used by a limited group of merchants (they even began to engage in usurious transactions, lending money on interest to poor merchants at the rate of 30%); secondly, most clients were “ defaulted on paying their debts“; thirdly, the government began to appropriate the bank’s meager capital to issue loans to the nobles.
As a result, in 1770 the Commercial Bank ceased operations, but formally existed until 1782, when it was finally liquidated; the remaining funds were transferred to the Noble Bank.

Copper (1758-1763) and Artillery (1760-1763) banks of Russia
When the overwhelming mass of the assets of the Noble Bank was spent, those who wanted to receive more, and those who had not yet had time, turned out to be very large. Therefore, to meet their needs, the state (according to the project of the energetic Shuvalov) creates additional banks: in 1758 - “Banking office for the circulation of copper money within Russia” (the so-called Copper Bank) and in 1760 - “Bank of Artillery and Engineering corps” (the so-called Artillery Bank).
The Copper Bank (authorized fund - 2 million rubles in copper money) was created to attract silver coins to the treasury. Loans were issued against bills of exchange (the bill of exchange charter appeared back in 1729) in copper coins at the rate of 6%, and were to be repaid according to the following scheme: 75% in silver coins, 25% in copper coins. Loans were issued under the same conditions as the Noble Bank.

For the first time, a very important provision appears in the charter of the Copper Bank - it was allowed to give money “as a loan for bills” to merchants, merchants, manufacturers and factory owners (factories). The biggest jackpot was hit by Yekaterinburg factory owners, who appropriated almost all the capital, surprising even their contemporaries with the size of the “loan.” Upon her accession to the throne, Catherine II issued a special decree to collect loans from factory owners, but most of the money was never returned.
The Artillery Bank was created with government money; the old copper cannons had to be minted into coins and a bank was opened with the created capital. The bank's income was supposed to be used to improve artillery...
As a result, the story with the previous banks repeated itself - huge sums were issued to an unknown person (the bank’s biggest client was the creator himself, Shuvalov), it was not possible to repay the loans, public funds continued to be embezzled.
In 1763, it was decided to disband both banks. Exactly how many loans were given out and how much money was made from the melting down of the cannons remains unknown to this day, since accounting was in its infancy. The Special Senate Commission could not even establish the approximate expenses of the banks, in particular the Artillery. Moreover, financial fraud occurred during the Seven Years' War (1756-1763)! According to the most conservative estimates, a third of Russia’s annual budget was siphoned off from the treasury – through the Copper and Artillery banks – in 8 years!

Assignation banks (1769-1843) of Russia
On January 9, 1769, in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Catherine II founded Assignment Banks, designed to replenish the constantly needy treasury. As an immediate goal, banks were supposed to replace full-fledged small change with paper money, more convenient for circulation (in Western Europe, banks performed similar functions back in the last century).


Former FINEK (now St. Petersburg State Economic University) from Sadovaya Street

As a result, the Assignation Bank was a depository bank intended to regulate paper money circulation and did not have the right to carry out credit operations.
For the entire reign of Catherine and subsequent rulers, up to the 40s. XIX century The issue of banknotes was steadily increasing - the printing press was supposed to save Russia. By 1817, the number of banknotes reached a huge figure - about 1 billion rubles!
Together with the final withdrawal of banknotes from circulation and their replacement, according to the manifesto on June 13, 1843, with state credit notes, the State Bank of Assignations ceased to exist. On January 1, 1849, the banknotes were cancelled.

State Loan Bank (1786-1860)
In July 1786, by decree of Mother Empress Catherine II the Great, the Noble Bank was reorganized into the State Loan Bank.
The terms of the loan are constantly improving and reach a 20-year repayment period for the nobles (remember that the money was originally supposed to be repaid within three years). Loans are issued against peasant souls, factory-inhabited estates, and stone houses at an interest rate of 5% per annum. Every four years, the corresponding part of the estate (subject to repayment of the loan) returned to the full ownership of the landowner. The bank was allowed to carry out deposit operations with a payment on deposits of 4.5%.


There is now an Institute of Precision Mechanics (ITMO), if it hasn’t been closed

The most outstanding step in this direction was the reform of the monetary system of Russia in 1839-1843, initiated and implemented during the reign of Nicholas I. The improvement of the monetary system, which was aimed at introducing new principles of its organization and eliminating depreciated government bonds from circulation, began with the adoption of the Manifesto of 1839 “On structure of the monetary system." The basis for monetary circulation was the silver ruble and a mandatory banknote rate was established: 3 rubles. 50 kopecks banknotes = 1 rub. silver In 1843, banknotes began to be gradually withdrawn from circulation and exchanged at a mandatory rate for banknotes, freely exchangeable for silver.
In accordance with it, all transactions in Russia had to be concluded exclusively in silver. Simultaneously with this act, a decree “On the establishment of the Silver Coin Deposit Office at the Commercial Bank” was published. The depository office accepted deposits in silver coins for storage and issued in return deposit tickets (analogous to modern electronic cards) for the corresponding amounts. Tickets issued under the constant control of the state were 100% backed by the silver equivalent.
Reforms a century and a half ago became the basis for the mechanism of the monetary system, which is still being improved to this day.