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The initial phases of Italian banks' expansion abroad, 1900–311

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2008

Roberto di Quirico
Affiliation:
European University Institute

Abstract

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Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © European Association for Banking and Financial History 1999

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References

2 See Teichova, A. and Cottrell, P. L. (eds), International Business and Central Europe 1918–1939 (New York, 1983)Google Scholar; Teichova, A., ‘Versailles and the expansion of the Bank of England into Central Europe’, reprinted in Matis, H. (ed.), The Economic Development of Austria Since 1870 (Cambridge, 1994)Google Scholar; idem, An Economic Background to Munich: International Business and Czechoslovakia 1918–1938 (Cambridge, 1974)Google Scholar; Ránki, G., Economy and Foreign Policy. The Struggle of the Great Powers for Hegemony in the Danube Valley, 1919–1939 (New York, 1983)Google Scholar; Soutou, G., ‘L'impérialisme du pauvre: la politique économique du gouvernement français en Europe Centrale et Orientale de 1918 à 1929’, Relations Internationales, 7 (1976)Google Scholar; and Colocotronis, C. V., L'Organisation bancaire des Pays Balkaniques et les capitaux étrangers (Paris, 1934).Google Scholar

3 See Casson, M., ‘Evolution of multinational banks: a theoretical perspective’, in Jones, G. (ed.), Banks as Multinationals (London, 1990).Google Scholar

4 Between 1893 and 1895 the Italian banking system underwent a major crisis with the collapse of the two most prominent banks – Banca Generale and Credito Mobiliare. This led to the ascendancy of two new ‘mixed’ banks – Banca Commerciale Italiana and Credito Italiano – and the reorganisation of banks of issue with the rise of the Bank of Italy. See Hertner, P., ‘Foreign capital in the Italian banking sector 1860–1914’, in Bovykin, V. I. and Cameron, R. (eds), International Banking 1870–1914 (New York, 1991).Google Scholar

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7 See De Rosa, L., Storia del Banco di Roma, vol. I (Rome, 1983), pp. 166–70.Google Scholar

8 See Confalonieri, A., Banca e industria in Italia dalla crisi del 1907 all'agosto 1914, vol. 1 (Milan, 1982), pp. 397 et seq.Google Scholar; and Historical Archives, Banca Commerciale Italiana, Milan [hereafter HABCI]: Verbali del Consiglio di amministrazione [hereafter VCDA], 28 Feb. 1910, 28 Mar. 1917 and 26 Feb. 1921.

9 See Mauro, F., ‘Les investissements françaises en Amerique Latine XIX–XX siecles’, in Lévy-Leboyer, M. (ed.), La position Internationale de la France. Aspects economiques et financiers XIX–XX siècles (Paris, 1977).Google Scholar

10 See Historical Archive, Ministère des Affaires étrangers, Paris: Relations Commerciales, serie B, Brésil 56.

11 See Webster, , Italy's Industrial Imperialism.Google Scholar

12 On Ansaldo and the Perrone brothers, see ibid.; Falchero, A. M., La Banca Italiatia di Sconto 1914–1921. Sette anni di guerra (Milan, 1990)Google Scholar; and Forsyth, D. J., The Crisis of Liberal Italy. Monetary and Financial Policy, 1914–1922 (Cambridge, 1993), pp. 254–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

13 See Historical Archives, Credito Italiano, Milan [hereafter HACI]: VCDA, 9 Mar. 1920 and 2 Jul. 1921.

14 See Italiano, Credito, 100 anni (Bologna, 1971).Google Scholar

15 See HABCI: VCDA, 23 Oct. 1919 and 30 Mar. 1920.

17 See ibid., 6 Mar. 1920.

18 See Italian Central Archive, Rome: IRI rossa, 489.

19 See HABCI: VCDA, 23 Oct. 1926 and 1 Jun. 1927; and Contabilità, cartella 27.

20 For BCI's interests in Poland, see Landau, Z. and Tomaszewski, J., ‘Foreign policy and international business in Poland, 1918–39’, in Teichova, A., Lévy-Leboyer, M. and Nussbaum, H. (eds), Multinational Enterprise in Historical Perspective (Cambridge, 1986).Google Scholar

21 See HABCI: VCDA, 26 Jun. 1928 and 28 Dec. 1928.

22 See Carocci, G., La politica estera dell'Italia fascista 1925–1928 (Bari, 1984), pp. 173–5.Google Scholar

23 On Italian financial problems during the 1920s, see Forsyth, The Crisis of Liberal Italy.

24 See De Rosa, , di Roma, Banco, vol. 11, pp. 240–3.Google Scholar

25 ibid., p. 180.

26 See Historical Archive, Banca d'Italia, Rome: Rapporti con l'estero, bobina 16, fotogrammi 2222–66.

27 See HABCI: VCDA, 27 Feb. 1919.

28 See Phelps, C. W., The Foreign Expansion of American Banks (1st pub. 1927, reprinted New York, 1976), p. 198.Google Scholar

29 In 1925 the Banco di Sicilia established the Bank of Sicily Trust Co. with its centre in New York. In 1930 the Banco di Napoli founded the Banco di Napoli Trust Co. also in New York.

30 See di Quirico, R., ‘Financing Italian growth: Italian banks and the New York financial market during the inter-war period’, Economic and Business History (1998).Google Scholar

31 BCI relinquished its equity interest in Banco de Italia y Rio de la Plata during 1922 but subsequently remained in contact with this bank. See HABCI: VCDA, 18 Jul. 1919 and 23 Oct. 1919.

32 See Quiroz, A. W., Domestic and Foreign Finance in Modern Peru, 1850–1950 (London, 1993), pp. 80–1.Google Scholar

33 See HABCI: carte Mattioli (ex-Rodano), cart. 3.

34 See Regalsky, A. M., ‘La evolución de la banca privada nacional en Argentina (1880–1914). Una introducion a su estudio’, in Tedde, P. and Marichal, C. (eds), La formación de las bancos centrales en España γ America Latina (siglos XIX γ XX), vol. II, Suramerica γ el Caribe (Madrid, 1994).Google Scholar

35 See Jones, G., British Multinational Banking, 1830–1990 (Oxford, 1993)Google Scholar; Joslin, D., A Century of Banking in Latin America (London, 1963)Google Scholar; and Baster, A. S. J., The International Banks (London, 1935).Google Scholar

36 See Hertner, P., ‘German banks abroad before 1914’, in Jones, Banks as Multinationals.Google Scholar

37 See Falchero, , La Banca Italiana di Sconto, pp. 165–8.Google Scholar

38 See HACI: VCDA of the Banca Nazionale di Credito, 3 Jul. 1922, 23 Sep. 1922, 13 Oct. 1922 and 19 Feb. 1923.

39 ibid., 15 Jan. 1923 and 23 Jun. 1926; and Historical Archives, Ufficio Italiano Cambi, Rome: VCDA, tornata n. 25, 20 Jan. 1922.