Gosbank (Russian: Госбанк, Государственный банк СССР, Gosudarstvenny bank SSSR—the State Bank of the USSR) was the central bank of the Soviet Union and the only bank in the entire country from 1922 to 1991. Gosbank was one of the three Soviet economic authorities, the other two being "Gosplan" (the State Planning Committee) and "Gossnab" (the State Committee for Material Technical Supply). The Gosbank closely collaborated with the Soviet Ministry of Finance to prepare the national state budget.
Exchange rate between the Soviet ruble and major world currencies, February 1985
The foundation of the bank was part of the implementation of the New Economic Policy. On 3 October 1921, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK), passed a resolution for the founding of the State Bank of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. This was followed by a similar resolution passed by Sovnarkom on 10 October 1921. It began operations on 16 November 1921. In February 1922 Lenin described the State Bank as "a bureaucratic paper game", comparing it to a Potemkin village in a letter to Aron Sheinman whom he accused of "Communist-mandarin childishness".[1] In 1923 it was transformed into the State Bank of the USSR. It was placed under the jurisdiction of Narkomfin.[2]
The Soviet state used Gosbank, primarily, as a tool to impose centralized control upon industry in general, using bank balances and transaction histories to monitor the activity of individual concerns and their compliance with five-year plans and directives. Gosbank did not act as a commercial bank in regard to the profit motive. It acted, theoretically, as an instrument of government policy. Instead of independently and impartially assessing the creditworthiness of the borrower, Gosbank would provide loan funds to favored individuals, groups and industries as directed by the central government.[3]
Beginning in 1921 in Paris and prior to his death, Leonid Krasin created the first state controlled Soviet overseas bank. It was one of five "daughter" (Russian: "дочек") banks or "motherland bins" or "bins of the motherland" (Russian: Закрома Родины) which were established in Paris (1921) as the Commercial Bank for Northern Europe (French: Banque commerciale pour l'Europe du Nord) BCEN-Eurobank, in London as part of the Moscow Narodny Bank, in Vienna (1974) as the Donau Bank AG, in Frankfurt am Main as the Ost-West Handelsbank (OWH), and in Luxembourg (1974) as the East-West United Bank. In order to financially assist Communist Parties, anti-imperialism, and pro national liberation movements worldwide, these banks acted as subsidiaries or "daughters" to the "mother" bank or Gosbank, which was the central bank of Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russia) from 1921-1922 and the Soviet Union from 1923-1991.[5][6][7][a][b]
In 1992 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Paris-based subsidiary bank BCEN-Eurobank had bad loans with Cuba, Morocco, and Mauritania and received a "silver plater" infusion of capital from Gosbank through a "participatory credit" (Russian: партисипационный кредит) of $1080.2 billion in various currencies.[5][c]
The former Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) funds flowed through these daughter banks to overseas locations during the 1990s looting of Russia.[5]
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, these daughter banks were absorbed into the VTB network and are very closely associated with the Bank of Russia (Russian: Банк России) which was the successor to Gosbank.[5][11]
Perestroika
As part of Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika program, other banks were formed, including; "Promstroybank" (USSR Bank of Industrial Construction), "Zhilstoybank" (USSR Bank of Residential Construction), "Agrobank" (USSR Agricultural Bank), "Vneshekonombank" (USSR Internal Trade Bank), and "Sberbank" (USSR Savings Bank). "Sberbank" continues to this day as one of Russia's largest banks, retaining senior ex-Gosbank personnel and most of the present Russian government's banking business.
Senior executives
This is the list of the Chairmen of the Board of the State Bank.[2][12]
^To process transactions with Russia and later the Soviet Union after 1923, the Swedish banker Olof Aschberg established a Russian commercial bank in Berlin (1920) as the Garantie und Kreditbank für den Osten (Garcrebo) and the Russian commercial bank (Russian: Роскомбанк) in Moscow (1922) which later became a Soviet joint stock bank named the "Foreign Trade Bank of the USSR" (1924) or the Vneshtorgbank (Russian: Внешторгбанк) which was renamed the "Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of the USSR" (1988) or Vnesheconombank (Russian: Внешэкономбанк) which was renamed VEB (17 May 2007).[8]Garcrebo conducted transactions between the Soviet Union and both Germany and the United States. In Berlin, the Garantie und Kreditbank für den Osten remained open after Hitler took office because of extraterritoriality and operated until 22 June 1941 when Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union to start the Great Patriotic War. After the war as a state controlled Soviet overseas bank under Gosbank, the Garantie und Kreditbank AG (Garkrebo) replaced the Garantie und Kreditbank für den Osten (Garcrebo) with approval from Vasily Sokolovsky on 27 May 1945.[9]
^To allow for a large amount of gold trading between the Soviet Union and the West because the Soviet Union had very little foreign currency reserves, Vneshtorgbank established a Soviet bank in Zurich (June 1966) as the Wozchod Handelsbank (English: Wozchod Handels Bank of Zurich) but its license was suspended in 1985 due to irregularities which were resolved in 2014.[10]
^In 1993, BCEN-Eurobank was the main shareholder of its daughter bank Eurofinance which was a "granddaughter" (Russian: внучка) bank to the Bank of Russia.[5]
^Pohl, Manfred (1 January 1975). Die Finanzierung der Russengeschäfte zwischen den beiden Weltkriegen. Die Entwicklung der 12 großen Rußlandkonsortien [The financing of Russian business between the two world wars. The development of the 12 large Russian consortia.] (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Fritz Knapp Verlag. ISBN978-3781901643.
^"ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ БАНК СССР" [State Bank of the USSR]. СОВНАРКОМ, СОВМИН, КАБМИН СССР 1923-1991 гг. (SOVNARKOM, SOVMIN, CABMIN of the USSR 1923-1991) (in Russian). Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
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