State Assignment Bank

Reasons for establishing a bank

In the XVIII century, the Russian Empire participated in numerous military campaigns that required significant costs. Silver coins , which were valued in European markets and were a means of international settlement, were usually used to cover military expenses. However, the Russian treasury experienced a constant shortage of silver . The intensive issue of copper money during the reign of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna was not able to satisfy the demands of the state and saturate the treasury with silver. Therefore, Senate Attorney General J.P. Shakhovskoy proposed to the government an option related to the introduction of paper money.

On May 25, 1762, Emperor Peter III decided to establish the State Bank ^[2] , which, on the model of the Bank of England, would have the right to issue bank tickets. However, as a result of the coup on June 28, 1762, this project was not implemented. The Russo-Turkish war that broke out in 1768 and the state budget deficit forced Catherine II to turn to the idea of ​​issuing paper money.

In 1768, Empress Catherine II was given a note substantiating the benefits of circulating paper money, the author of which was Count K.E. Sivers . Sievers' note stipulated measures that could be taken to speed up and facilitate money circulation and thereby to better develop trade. A specially created bank was supposed to issue bank notes, which could be freely exchanged for hard currency and accepted as legal tender .

Establishment of banks for the exchange of bills

On December 29, 1768 (January 9, 1769) it was signed, and on February 2 (13), 1769, the Manifesto on the establishment of state banks in St. Petersburg and Moscow for the exchange of bank notes was published. The reasons for the introduction of paper money in the manifest were declared: "the burden of a copper coin," which made it difficult to handle; the difficulty of moving money; the need to create a bank as in Europe ^[3] .

In the manifesto it was noted that the bank notes were circulating on a par with the coin and that the people presenting the bank notes should immediately be given money in the proper amount. It was found that the issue of paper money should not exceed the cash amount of the voiced coin in the bank. The initial capital of the Assignation Bank was 1 million rubles. copper money - 0.5 million rubles each. Petersburg and Moscow offices, which were recommended to be taken from the amounts of the abolished Copper Bank. This metal fund fully ensured the issue of paper money, the limit of which was set at 1 million rubles.

To facilitate the exchange of bank notes, bank branches were additionally opened in Yaroslavl (1772), Smolensk, Ustyug, Astrakhan, Nizhny Novgorod and Vyshny Volochyok (1773), and bank notes were issued for each of them for 150-200 thousand rubles; in 1776 - in Tobolsk with the issue of bank notes for 1 million rubles; in 1779 - in Irkutsk with the issue of bank notes for 500 thousand rubles; in 1781, offices were opened in Pskov, Novgorod, Tver, Nizhyn, Kiev, Kursk, Kharkov, Tambov, Orel and Tula with the issuance of bank notes for 200 thousand rubles each; in 1782 - in Kazan (300 thousand), Arkhangelsk (200 thousand), Kherson (300 thousand), Riga (200 thousand) and Revel (100 thousand). Despite the fact that by a decree on August 20, 1781, governors were ordered in provincial cities, and for district governors to testify the state of the amounts in bank offices and to inform the main board of banks, the activities of the offices were not successful, and in 1788 16 of them were closed.

In 1771, Assignment banks were allowed to take deposits from individuals of 5% and give them out in loans in the amount of 10,000-25,000 rubles each.

Establishment of the State Assignment Bank

In 1786, Assignment banks were renamed into one State Assignment Bank, which was given the following privileges:

1. to buy copper inside the state and to release it abroad;
2. issue gold and silver bullion and foreign coins from abroad;
3. to get a mint in St. Petersburg and mint a coin;
4. to carry out accounting of bills , withholding not more than 0.5% per month, for which account offices for bills were established at the Assignation Bank.

In 1794, the issuance of banknotes was extended to the annexed Polish regions and offices were established in Vilna, Grodna, Kovna. The number of all notes issued under Catherine II amounted to 157 million rubles, and their rate did not fall below 3 kopecks per ruble. In subsequent reigns, the number of notes continued to increase, and by 1817, when the issue was finally discontinued, it amounted to 836 million rubles.

Together with the final withdrawal of bank notes from circulation and their replacement in accordance with the manifesto on June 1, 1843 with state credit tickets, the State Bank of Assignments ceased to exist.

• Banks // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Bugrov A.V. Assignment Bank // Bulletin of the Bank of Russia. - 2000. - No. 58 .
• Bugrov A.V. Treasury banks in Russia: 1754 - 1860. M.: Central Bank of the Russian Federation, 2017.