Yokohama Specie Bank

The Yokohama Specie Bank (横浜正金銀行, Yokohama Shōkin Ginkō) was a Japanese bank founded in Yokohama in 1880, which dominated the Japanese market for trade finance in subsequent decades. During the 1920s, it accounted for nearly 50 per cent of foreign exchange transactions for Japanese exports and imports, and in 1929 was Japan's largest and most profitable bank aside from the Bank of Japan.^[2] It also played a significant role in Japanese colonial ventures, not least in Manchuria and elsewhere in China.^[3]

In 1946, following the loss of Japan's overseas possessions, the Yokohama Specie Bank was reorganized and rebranded as the Bank of Tokyo, one of the predecessor entities of MUFG Bank.

History

Following the signing of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce in 1859, Yokohama was opened as a port for foreign trade and quickly grew in importance. Through the New Currency Act of 1871, Japan adopted the gold standard along international lines, with 1 yen corresponding to 1.5g of pure gold. Silver coins were also issued for trade with Asian countries who favoured silver as a currency, thus establishing a de facto gold-silver standard.^[4] However, inflation caused by the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion and the outflow of a large amount of silver due to increased imports, a large discrepancy arose between government-issued banknotes and specie coin. This became a source of trouble for the merchants in Yokohama, as specie rather than banknotes came to be demanded for foreign trade. ^{[citation needed]}

On 28 February 1880, a syndicate of 22 people with the support of Fukuzawa Yukichi and Inoue Kaoru established a bank in accordance with the National Bank Act to ensure the availability of specie for the trading community. The bank had an initial capitalization of three million Yen, of which one million was invested by the Ministry of Finance. The bank was modeled after the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, which had a great influence on Japan's overseas trade and foreign exchange at the time. The new bank opened an agency in New York and a branch office in Kobe, both also in 1880. The next year, the bank opened a sub-branch in London, which was upgraded to a branch in December 1884 after the bank was appointed by the Ministry of Finance to manage Japan's foreign exchange.^{[citation needed]}

In July 1887, the government promulgated the Yokohama Specie Bank Ordinance, which stipulated that branch offices be established everywhere that was regarded as important to Japanese foreign trade and authorized that an administrator from the Ministry of Finance would be assigned to monitor the bank's operations. This Ordinance was revised in 1889 to authorize the Japanese government to overrule any decision by its directors, and if deemed necessary, to replace the directors with others of its choosing.^{[citation needed]}

A branch office was opened in Shanghai in 1893. This was the first of many offices which would eventually be established throughout China. In 1894 a branch was established in Bombay. With the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 to 1905, the Yokohama Specie Bank established branches in the Kwantung Leased Territory and served as paymaster for the Imperial Japanese Army. From 1906, under its 7th president, Takahashi Korekiyo the bank was permitted to issue its own banknotes for use in the Kwantung Leased Territory and in China. In July of the same year, Japan's first leased line telephone opened between the Bank of Japan and the Yokohama Specie Bank head office. In 1911, the bank signed an underwriting agreement with the Imperial Chinese Chunghwa Post for the establishment of a postal banking system in China. In the Taisho period, the Yokohama Specie Bank became one of the three major exchange banks in the world. New branches opened in 1909 in Dalian, 1910 in Beijing and Honolulu, 1912 in Harbin, and 1915 in Sydney.^[5]

On 4 October 1918, London branch sub-manager S. Ujie, his wife and three sons, together with bank employee Takashi Aoki and wife Sueko, died when German UBoat UB-91 sank the Hirano Maru.^[6]^[7] More branches opened after World War I in Qingdao (1919), Hankou (1921), Vladivostok (1924), Mukden (later Changchun, 1925), and Tianjin (1926).^{[citation needed]} By 1929, YSB had a total 37 offices outside of Japan and its colonies, by far the largest international network of any Japanese bank.^[8]^: 3

The bank continued in its role as the paymaster for the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War and Pacific War, assisted by its widespread branch office network. Its assets in New York and Honolulu were seized by the United States government in 1941. In 1946, following the surrender of Japan, the bank was officially merged with The Bank of Tokyo as part of anti-zaibatsu ordinances issued by the American occupation authorities. The bank was finally liquidated in 1963.^{[citation needed]}

Presidents

December 1879 – July 1882: Nakamura Michita [ja]
July 1882 – January 1883: Ōno Mitsukage
January – March 1883: Shirasu Taizō
March 1883 – March 1890: Hara Rokurō [ja]
March 1890 – April 1897: Sonoda Kokichi
March 1897 – March 1906: Sōma Nagatane [ja]
March 1906 – June 1911: Takahashi Korekiyo
March 1911 – February 1913: Mishima Yatarō
February - September 1913: Mizumachi Kesaroku [ja]
September 1913 – March 1919: Junnosuke Inoue^[9]
March 1919 – March 1922: Kajihara Nakaji
March 1922 – September 1936: Kodama Kenji
September 1936 – March 1943: Toshikata Ōkubo
March 1943 – June 1945: Hideshige Kashiwagi
June 1945 – July 1946: Shōji Arakawa
June – December 1946: Itsuki Takada

Former branches

Former branch in Kobe, lately Kobe City Museum
Former branch in Nagasaki
Former branch in Harbin, lately Heilongjiang Provincial Museum
Former branch in Changchun, lately seat of the Changchun Acrobatic Troupe
Former branch in Shenyang, lately ICBC
Former branch in Dalian, lately Bank of China
Former branch in Tianjin, lately Bank of China
Former branch in Beijing, lately China Court Museum
Former branch in Qingdao, lately Bank of Qingdao
Former branch in Shanghai, lately ICBC
Former branch in Hankou, lately Hubei International Trust Investment Corporation
Former branch on Shamian, Guangzhou
Former Prince's Building in Hong Kong, where the YSB branch was located (demolished in 1963)
Former branch in Honolulu, lately Cole Academy preschool^[10]
Former branch in London, Bishopsgate 7-9^[11]