This volume presents a clear and concise explanation of why the American banking crisis of 1933 occurred. The bulk of the book analyses the actual events of the final major panic which was ushered in by the closing down of the banks in the State of Michigan on February 14, 1933. The following three weeks made history and events happened so fast that years of banking history seemed to be compressed into as many days. The events are set within an historical context which enables the reader to see the panic in relation to what came before it.
This volume presents a clear and concise explanation of why the American banking crisis of 1933 occurred. The bulk of the book analyses the actual events of the final major panic which was ushered in by the closing down of the banks in the State of Michigan on February 14, 1933. The following three weeks made history and events happened so fast that years of banking history seemed to be compressed into as many days. The events are set within an historical context which enables the reader to see the panic in relation to what came before it.
This book is concerned with developments in three main areas of monetary history: domestic commercial banking; monetary policy; and the UK’s international financial position. For ease of analysis the 160 years under study are arranged into three clear chronological divisons. Part 1 covers the years 1826-1913, a period in which the UK emerged as the world’s leading economic power. It was in these years that an extensive and fully-operative domestic banking system was established. Part 2 covers 1914 to 1939 – the years which marked a break in the traditional monetary arrangements of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Part 3 covers 1939-1986 when the dominance of state influence within the domestic money markets was re-established by the Second World War and the acceptance by the authorities of the obligation to ‘manage’ the economy which meant that successive postwar governments took direct responsibility for the conduct of monetary and credit policy.
Despite the political potency of money and banking issues, historians have largely dismissed the Progressive Era political debate over banking as irrelevant and have been preoccupied with explaining the shortcomings, limitations and inadequacies of the Federal Reserve Act. The picture that has emerged is one of bankers controlling the course of financial reform with the assistance of political leaders who were either subservient, hopelessly naive or insincere in their public opposition to bankers. This book places their exertions in a larger, unfolding political context and traces in an analytical narrative the interplay of sectional and economic interests, political ideologies and partisan clashes that shaped the course of banking reform.
How does financial deregulation affect the operation of the banking system in the UK? What are the consequences of the development of an electronic banking system? This book addresses these and other important questions in a survey of UK change in the financial sector and in banking in particular. Attention is given to the role of building societies after the ‘big bang’ and the implications for retail banking of competition in the housing finance market. Both the long and short term implications of regulatory reform for banks are dealt with together with the role of the Bank of England and what the changes have meant in terms of international banking. Concentrating on the three main areas of change deregulation, regulatory reform and technical innovation the book is an important pointer to the shape of banking in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
This book provides a comparative analysis of the several types of banking structure and the ways in which banks undertake their business. It surveys central banking arrangements in a number of countries. Against an historical background, it describes banking systems ranging from the so-called ‘unit banking’ of the USA to the branch banking arrangements that derive from British experience, as well as many systems in between. The business of banking is analysed comparatively within the framework of a simplified bank balance sheet, special attention being given to industrial banking and to assets and liabilities management. It explores how money markets function and, within this framework, how central banks operate and attempt to implement monetary and credit policy. The book includes the results of extensive new research, part of which involved interviewing many key figures throughout the banking industry.
Charting developments in one of the most turbulent periods of economic history, this far reaching volume covers the problems facing the major economies of Europe in the inter-war years. It also discusses global economic policies and the crises for the world's major currencies. Although it covers complex themes, the book is written in an accessible way even for the non-specialist.
Directed both at students of international finance and practitioners in the field, the book stresses the importance of treating the analysis of sovereign risk in a more general framework than is typically the case, identifying the components of both the demand and supply of sovereign loans. The author also discusses the link between the unique aspects of sovereign lending, the interdependence of the international banking system and the potential instability in the world financial system.
The role of international banks within the developed economies has come under increasingly hostile public scrutiny, yet little attention has been paid to the structure and purpose of the banks themselves. Most existing studies concentrate on the part played by international banks as intermediaries in the domestic and international economy, failing to consider the foremost concern of the banks themselves – their success as business enterprises. This book examines the practical problems faced by the Universal Multinational banks (UMNBs) in the fields of strategic planning and business development. It explains the common constraints encountered by the UMNBs, showing that, whether they like it or not, current market pressures are governing their policies in all the developed economies. Through studying the management structures and business policies of these banks this book provides a much clearer picture of their activities in the world economy. Initially, it concentrates on the UMNBs of the USA since they have provided a strategic model for other global banking concerns. The UMNBs of Japan, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Switzerland are then discussed to establish their similarities and differences: case studies are included at the end of each chapter to illustrate and reinforce the points made in the preceding text. Although written in 1984 the author successfully predicted many of the subsequent developments in the field of information technology and competition in world markets, which led to the emergence of global financial enterprises.
