Mutual Credit Societies

Categories / Economy/Finances and Credit
MUTUAL CREDIT SOCIETIES, institutions founded on a partnership basis to grant short-term loans. A member of a mutual credit society would undertake obligations for a specified amount, and a credit would be opened to such a member according to the obligations undertaken. The first mutual credit society in Russia was founded in St. Petersburg at 13 Ekaterininsky Canal in 1864 with 200 members and a charter approved in 1863. It was the fire in May 1862 destroying stocks in Shchukin Dvor and Apraksin Dvor that provided a reason to open the society. There were about 20 mutual credit societies in St. Petersburg by 1910, the largest of them were the St. Petersburg Mutual Credit Society, the Mutual Credit Society of the St. Petersburg District Council founded at 8 Italyanskaya Street in 1871, the 2nd St. Petersburg Mutual Credit Society founded at 34 Sadovaya Street in 1895, the 3rd St. Petersburg Mutual Credit Society opened at 72 Nevsky Prospect in 1902, the Mutual Credit Society of Printing Traders founded at 14 Ekaterininsky Canal Embankment in 1904, the 4th St. Petersburg Mutual Credit Society founded in Tolmazov Lane (today 2 Krylova Lane) in 1907, the Vasileostrovsky Mutual Credit Society founded at 5 Sixth Line, Vasilyevsky Island, in 1908, and the Russian Mutual Credit Society founded at 32 Sadovaya Street in 1909. The Central Bank of Mutual Credit Societies was located on Nevsky Prospect in 1909 in order to provide financial support to and coordinate activities of such societies. There were as many as 40 societies operating in St. Petersburg by 1917, some of them performing operations similar to those of joint-stock commercial banks. The Mutual Land Credit Society, which opened in St. Peterbsurg in 1866 and the St. Petersburg City Mutual Loan Society, opened at 24 Nevsky Prospect in 1904, issued loans against real estate of St. Petersburg, based on a mutual liability principle. All mutual credit societies were liquidated according to the circular of October 10, 1918 issued by the People's Commissar of Finances. After the New Economic Policy was introduced, however, they sprang up again in the early 1920s including the 1st Mutual Credit Society in Petrograd and the Petrograd Mutual Credit Society of Commerce and Industry opened at 13 Griboedova Canal Embankment and 34 Sadovaya Street, respectively. In 1922, the Petrograd Mutual Credit Society of Leased and Private Industry and the North-Western Society of Farm Credit opened at 42 Nevsky Prospect and 3 Rakova Street, respectively; in 1923, the Leningrad Mutual Credit Society of Small and Mid-Sized Business opened at 65 Nevsky Prospect in 1924; the Leningrad United Mutual Credit Society of Small Business was founded at 18 Sadovaya Street in 1925 and the Leningrad Building Mutual Credit Society — at 59 Moika Embankment in 1926. The operations performed by mutual credit societies during that period mainly included bill transactions and commercial loan transactions, as well as loans against securities and other valuables. All mutual credit societies were liquidated by the decree by the Central Executive Committee and the Soviet of People's Commissars of the USSR on January 30, 1930.

References: Деревицкий В. А. Общество взаимного кредита. М., 1928; Андрюшин С. А. Городские кредитные общества // Банк. дело. 1996. № 11. С. 36-39.

A. L. Dmitriev. Shchukin I.M.
6th Line of Vasilievsky Island/Saint Petersburg, city, house 5
Griboedova Canal Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 13
Griboedova Canal Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 14
Italyanskaya Street/Saint Petersburg, city, house 3
Italyanskaya Street/Saint Petersburg, city, house 8
Krylova Lane/Saint Petersburg, city, house 2
Moika River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 59
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 24
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 42
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 15
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 65
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 72
Sadovaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 18
Sadovaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 32
Sadovaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 34
Деревицкий В. А. Общество взаимного кредита. М., 1928
Андрюшин С.А. Городские кредитные общества // Банк. дело., 1996 1890