Moscow
Narodny Bank Company Information
About
The Moscow Narodny Bank Company
Please
note: It looks like this website/company has ceased trading
For
80 years, Moscow Narodny Bank has been navigating the highs and
lows of initially Anglo-Russian, and subsequently global, trade,
financial and economic trends. As a fully incorporated British financial
institution, MNB is regulated by the UK Financial Services Authority.
The decision to create a bank can be traced to a meeting of the
Russian Co-operative movement in 1908, and was a direct response
to the need of the co-operative sector for capital financing and
expertise in the financing of trade. The new bank, Moskovskii Narodnyi
Bank, first opened its doors in 1911 on Myasnitskaya Ulitsa, and
rapidly set up agencies in both London (1915) and New York (1916).
The London agency becoming a full branch in 1917. Following the
October Revolution in Russia, the Bank was nationalised by the new
government in 1918. It was apparent, though, that the external trade
of the now Soviet co-operative sector would continue to expand and
develop. As a result, the need for a London-based financial institution
remained. It was therefore decided to transform the London Branch
into an English-law limited liability company, bearing the original
name. This was completed on October 18th, 1919.
Originally
the Bank had an authorised capital of £250,000 which was subscribed
in its entirety by the co-operative organisations. The principal
role of the new bank was to finance foreign trade of the central
co-operative organisations with Great Britain and other countries.
As such it was the first co-operative bank designed to handle foreign
trade.
Although
the economic conditions of the first few years were difficult, by
the middle of the 1920s, the Bank’s performance was sufficiently
robust to allow the establishment of a Branch in Paris (1925), re-establish
an agency in New York (1926) and open a Branch in Berlin (1928).
In this period MNB established shareholdings in the Transit Bank
of Riga, Svenska Bank, the Far Eastern Bank, Harbin, and Banque
Commercial pour l’Europe du Nord (BCEN). The limits of this
period of expansion were signalled by the establishment of a Shanghai
Branch in 1934.
During
the 1930s, the direction of the bank changed with the massive restructuring
of the Soviet economy, the downturn in world output, and in particular
changes in the political and economic relations between the Soviet
Union and the rest of the world.
In
the immediate period after the Second World War, trading conditions
remained difficult. However, closer ties were developed with BCEN,
Wozchod Handelsbank and the Bank Russo-Iran. Significantly the Bank
played a key role in founding the Eurodollar market by re-investing
dollar deposits made by its Soviet shareholders outside the United
States.
The
second phase of the bank’s geographical expansion saw a branch
in Beirut (1963), and the return to the Asian markets with the opening
of the Singapore branch (1971). The bank also returned to the Russian
market with opening of a representative office in Moscow in 1975.
Despite
the tremendous changes, there has been a common theme to Moscow
Narodny’s corporate history: its innovative financial engineering
within a niche market.
Registered
in England No. 159752.
MNB is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority
Moscow
Narodny Bank Limited
Registered office:
81 King William Street
London
EC4N 7BG
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