State Commercial Bank of the Russian Empire

In 1817, a new banking reform was launched in Russia, during which a new State Commercial Bank was created on the basis of accounting offices at the Assignation Bank. Under his organization, the Council of State Credit Establishments was also created, and preparations began for the reorganization of the State Loan Bank . The main goal of the ongoing banking reform was to promote the strengthening of private loans, which, in turn, could contribute to the development of agriculture, industry, and trade ^[2] .

Before the establishment of the bank in the State Council, the Minister of Finance D. A. Guryev presented a report to the emperor , which outlined the main activities of the future bank. It was assumed that the bank will carry out the following operations: storage of deposits in gold, silver and in foreign currency; transfers of cash deposits following the example of the Hamburg and Amsterdam fat banks (operations in the form of cashless payments); accepting deposits with interest accrued thereon; accounting of bills ; loans for goods.

The manifesto on the establishment of the State Commercial Bank said:

Desiring to open to merchants ways to facilitate and expand commercial turnovers, We recognized for the good, instead of the existing accounting offices, whose action on the unimportance of their capital and various inconveniences in their education noted does not bring tangible benefits to trade, establish a State Commercial Bank ^[1] .

The bank began its work with customers on January 2, 1818. Already on January 7, 1818, the second branch of the bank, engaged in settlements on bills, took into account the first written debt obligation from St. Petersburg merchant Mikhail Solodovnikov for 5 thousand rubles.

The year after the start of work, in 1818, the Moscow office of the State Commercial Bank was established. Over 42 years of the bank’s work, 12 of its offices were opened, 3 of which were temporary. In 1819, decrees were signed on the establishment of offices in Arkhangelsk and Odessa , in 1820 - in Riga and Nizhny Novgorod (temporary), in 1821 - in Astrakhan . In 1839, the Kiev Office was established, in 1841 - Rybinsk (temporary), in 1843 - Kharkov , in 1846 - Yekaterinburg and Irbitskaya (temporary). In 1852, the last office of the State Commercial Bank was opened in Poltava .

In the late 1850s, the economic situation in the Russian Empire changed. The decrease in interest on deposits led to the outflow of deposits from state-owned banks, which was the beginning of the end of the pre-reform banking system. The government, which was no longer able to repay depositors' money taken as interest-free loans from banks, decided to consolidate deposits that were declared public debt . After that, interest on deposits was again reduced, state mortgage banks were liquidated, and the State Commercial Bank was reorganized. ^[2] By decree of Alexander II of May 31, 1860, the State Commercial Bank was reorganized into the State Bank of the Russian Empire ^[3] .

The structure of the State Commercial Bank consisted of a board and branches. The board of the bank consisted of a manager, four directors from the government and four directors elected from the merchants. The functions of the bank's board included the management and supervision of all operations that were carried out in the branches.

The manager of the State Commercial Bank was appointed by the emperor on the proposal of the Minister of Finance . According to the bank’s charter, the manager was the chairman of the bank’s board. His responsibilities included monitoring the work of employees of all departments and the performance of their duties, he determined the timing of tasks, transferred employees from one department to another.

Bank directors from the government, as well as the ruler of the office, were also appointed by the Minister of Finance and approved by the emperor. The Minister of Finance appointed accountants, supervisors, cashiers and their assistants, archivists, executives, brokers . The rest, lower employees, including counters, were hired by the bank's board itself.

Directors from merchants were elected for a period of 4 years by the society of the first two guilds from the primary merchants trading at the ports of St. Petersburg and Kronstadt .

Under the administration of the bank, there were also the ruler of the chancellery, two clerks, an archivist and an executor. The office was directly subordinate to the bank manager.

The State Commercial Bank had 4 branches.

• The first branch was engaged in accepting and issuing deposits, accepting deposits for transfers and for increments of interest. It kept accounting and control (control) books on deposits.
• The second branch was engaged in the provision of loans under bills. It dealt with protests of past due bills, including penalties for them.
• The third branch was engaged in the issuance of loans for goods. It also carried out the sale of goods when the loan was delayed or its repayment was incomplete, and other operations related to loans.
  
• The fourth branch carried out the reception, storage and issuance of various kinds of amounts. There were three cash desks in the department: one for keeping deposits, one for receiving them daily and a third for giving out money on a daily basis.

Bank Board

• Governor of the State Commercial Bank - Ribopier Alexander Ivanovich
  
• Directors of the Bank:
  

1. Grozdov (member of the St. Petersburg accounting office for goods)
2. Furman (Director of Theodosia Accounting Office)
3. Mikhail Vladimirovich Grushetsky (located in the Department of State Property for the correction of various orders)
4. Timofeev Alexander Ulyanovich (Director of the Moscow branch of the Assignation Bank)

• Directors from the merchants: Andrei Severin , Christian Tal , Gabriel Moskvin and Khloponin .
  

In the case of illness of the bank manager A. I. Ribopier, MV V. Grushetsky was appointed to replace him.

• Levicheva I. N. Features of the formation of the banking system of Russia at the end of the XVIII beginning of the XIX century. // Bulletin of the Bank of Russia. - M. , 2003-10-01. - No. 54 (706) .
• Morozan V.V. History of banking in Russia (second half of the 18th - first half of the 19th centuries). St. Petersburg: Kriga, 2004. (p. 266-371). ISBN 5-901805-18-6
• Bugrov A.V. Treasury banks in Russia. 1754-1860 M .: Central Bank of the Russian Federation, 2017 .-- 512 p.