Siberian Merchant Bank

Categories / Economy/Finances and Credit
SIBERIAN MERCHANT BANK, a joint-stock commercial bank, founded in Ekaterinburg in 1872 and in St. Petersburg in 1902. The volume of transactions was high enough for the bank to rank 7th in the country before the war. Financing of trade was the most important activity of the bank. It had 57 branches in 1915, and provided services for exporting bread, Siberian butter, Central Asian karakul, and other goods. During the prewar economic growth, the bank took part in financing railways and steamship lines, establishing and expanding industrial enterprises such as coal mines and military plants, Vulkan Plant of St. Petersburg among them. The Siberian Merchant Bank helped establish the Mongolian National Bank, which played an important role in implementing Russian foreign policy in the region. The bank also arranged a number of geological expeditions for searching gold deposits and exploring Dzhezkazganskie copper ore deposits. It joined the group of banks friendly to the Russian-Asian Bank, after the latter was founded. The bank’s offices were located at 44 Nevsky Prospect; a new building constructed there in 1909-10 by architects B. I. Girshovich and M. S. Lyalevich.

References: Тарновский В. В. История Сибирского торгового банка // Материалы по истории России в период капитализма. М., 1976. С. 136-168. (Тр. Гос. ист. музея; Вып. 46); Бовыкин В. И., Петров Ю. А. Коммерческие банки Российской империи. М., 1994.

V. S. Solomko. Girshovich Boris Ionovich
Lyalevich Marian Stanislavovich
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 44
Тарновский В. В. История Сибирского торгового банка // Материалы по истории России в период капитализма. М., 1976
Петров Ю. А., Бовыкин В. И. Коммерческие банки Российской империи. М., 1994 Russian-Asian Bank