Research On Chongqing City Bank(1946-1949)

The local banks in modern times included the province,city and county three levels.At present,there are many achievements in the study of local banks.In particular,the research on the provincial banks and the county banks has been a summary of the macro and micro case studies.Due to the awkward status and the small number in the local banking system,the city banks are less concerned by academic circle.Chongqing city bank is chosen as the object of the case analysis of this paper,based on the materials of Chongqing Archives and newspapers &periodicals in the Republic of China.By combing the historical context of Chongqing city bank to explore the historical position and role of city banks in the Republic of China.Chongqing city bank was formally established in 1946 under the advocacy of the provisional Council of Chongqing City,which is the only local bank founded by the Chongqing municipal government in the Republic of China.The capital of the bank is fully allocated by the municipal government,and the mayor of Chongqing takes the chair of the bank.The bank's internal staff and the municipal authorities are closely linked,so the same as most local banks in the business,it is affected by the local government.During the liberation war,the regions controlled by the national government suffered inflation,shrinking market and economic depression.In this situation,the commercial development and support of the local economy of Chongqing city bank were closely integrated.Agent Library was one of the most important business of Chongqing city bank,which facilitated the management of Chongqing's financial capital and improved the utilization efficiency of municipal funds.As for deposit money,Chongqing city Bank's deposit was from Treasury Deposits,although the amount of funds was huge,but the mobility was large,the utilization rate waslimited.In terms of loans,the most common types were interbank loans and discount loan,interbank loans business was good for the stabilization of the financial environment at that time,and it played a positive role for protecting the normal operation of various types of commercial banks.The focus of the discount loan was various types of production,public and private schools.It helped Chongqing's primary and secondary schools in the extremely harsh economic environment to maintain normal operation.In addition,a small cost of industrial and commercial loans and suburban loan of farmers business were started.On the one hand,because of the lack of national policy,they could only have a few loans to them;on the other hand,because of their poor solvency and the risk of loans so that commercial banks were often reluctant to give them loans,but Chongqing city bank disregarded the profit,and ran the risk of the capital is difficult to recover.It is fully undertaken the responsibility of local bank.In terms of foreign exchange business,it signed a contract with most of cities in Sichuan province,due to the economic situation was not stable,portfolio was limited.In addition to traditional business,the Chongqing city bank had also carried out security,overdrafts and other services.By the end of 1948 in order to match the currency reform,it also issued silver coins of gold and silver coupon redemption.Chongqing city bank lasted less than 4 years,on the one hand,it actively expanded its business in the early days of its establishment,so it had played a positive role for restoring,stability of Chongqing local economy.On the other hand,due to its business regardless of income,loan structure was not reasonable,the risk of application of founds,and much loan exposure,so its financial situation is not always ideal,and it became a factor of local economic instability.In addition,it was bureaucratic and the quality of business personnel was not high.It raked in gold in the later stage of the War of Liberation,so it closed in Chongqing after liberation.As a microcosm of the city bank,the Chongqing city bank reflects the awkward position of the city bank in the local banking system.One of the reasons was lack of sufficient legislative authority,because its establishment was based on The County Banking Law,but it was in the same environment as provincial bank;on the other hand,due to the complexity of the administrative division of the “city” in the period of the Republic of China,so is difficult to simply classify the city bank into the provincial bank or the county bank,thus causing the awkward position of the city bank.But it's not doubt that the city bank is an important supplement to the local banking system,which plays an important role in stabilizing the city finance and supporting the localeconomic construction.With the deepening of the reform of the financial market,the city commercial banks around the country have set up and listed around the country,the study of the city banks in the Republic of China will be helpful for the development of the city commercial banks.