북양정부시기 北四行의 발전

Abstract

With Chinese industrial development in 1920s, North four banks has rapidly developed during Northern Warlords government times. There are several factors that made it possible for them to develop rapidly in 1920s, which can be summarized as follows: First of all, North four banks fostered their growth by making investment on public sector. The management groups of North four banks had a deep understanding on how important it was that they had close relation with government in developing banking industry. second, in order to enhance the credit standing of four banks in the financial market, they came to an agreement to issue the joint bank notes, and at the same time took the financial policy to absorb a large sum of deposit in the private sector with exceptionally good banking condition, such as high interest rate. As a result, they could successfully transfer to their banks a large sum of money that Chinese capitalists had placed on deposit in the foreign commercial banks since the end of Ch'ing dynasty. Third, everytime government raised the bonds, they made a good profit by buying them with a favorable banking condition. In case they bought the government bonds, the profit margin was higher than a profit that they made when lending money to the businessmen in the industrial sector. Sometimes they had deeply a hand in stock market in order to persue a good profit by taking advantage of the government bonds on speculation. Finally, they had a deep recognition that the banking service should be made to contribute to the industrial and commercial development. As a consequence, they played a very important role in providing the industrial funds needed to the rapid growth of Chinese industry in 1920s. We need to take a look at what kinds of political and economical effects North four banks made in 1920s. It can be summarized as follows: First, North four banks and peking government had a symbiotic relation during Northern warlords government times. In order words, they contributed to maintaining the political power of warlords who could successfully control the Peking government by providing financial aids to them, while they could promote the rapid growth of their banking business under the sponsorship of government in return. Second, they contributed to developing the Chinese national industry, such as textile and flour industries, by providing the industrial funds to the Chinese industrial enterprises, and at the same time made it possible for Chinese industrialists and capitalists to deter foreign capitals from occupying Chinese financial market. Finally, they contributed to promoting the inter-trade between Tianjin and agricultural communities in North China. With the rapid development of industries in Tianjin, a broad productive bases of industrial raws began to appear in the North of China. In order for Chinese farmers to borrow their agricultural funds, they placed a large sum of money on deposit in the traditional banks by expanding the bank branches to the major cities in North China. They made it possible for Chinese farmers to use their agricultural funds indirectly by taking advantage of the Chinese traditional banks.