State Bank of Morocco
The State Bank of Morocco (
History
Background
Projects for a bank that would stabilize the Moroccan monetary situation and promote trade and development in the Sultanate started being made in the 1880s, with various initiatives promoted by British, French, Tangier Jewish, and German businessmen and diplomats. From 1901 to 1905, the
Creation
The decision to create the State Bank of Morocco was eventually made at the Algeciras Conference, which took place in early 1906 in Algeciras, Spain,[2] with the aim to determine the future status of Morocco, including reform of its administration and finances and ensuring free trade. The participating governments endorsed the project of a state bank and adopted provisions for its establishment. On 7 April 1906, the representatives of eleven European countries and the United States of America joined Morocco in signing the conference's final act ("Act of Algeciras"), whose articles 31 to 58 define the concession of the State Bank.[3]: 58 Prodded by both the French and British governments, British financier Ernest Cassel reluctantly provided support for the new venture.[4]
A committee chaired by Bank of France Governor Georges Pallain was tasked with drafting the State Bank's statute and a regulation defining its relation with the Moroccan government. Following ratification of the Act of Algeciras by the participating nations, the bank's constituent general assembly was held at the Bank of France in Paris under Pallain's chairmanship and officially established it on 25 February 1907 as a limited company under French law, with registered office (French: siège social) in Tangier but whose board of directors would meet in Paris. In practice, most board meetings were only attended by three directors, which further reinforced French control over the bank's day-to-day affairs.[5]
The State Bank's capital was initially divided into 14 equal blocks of shares (7.14 percent each). Each of the 12 participating countries (Austria-Hungary, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Morocco itself; the United States did not take part) received one block; the two remaining blocks of shares were reserved for the consortium associated with the
The State Bank had some of the functions of a central bank and in 1911 started to mint silver coins (Moroccan rials, also known as Hassani), and to issue banknotes. It had the right, for a 40-year term expiring at end-1946, to issue banknotes backed by gold. It had a strict cap on the spending of the Sultanate. The national banks of France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom, which guaranteed the bank's loans, each appointed one of the State Bank's four overseers (French: censeurs).[1]: 590
Later development
The State Bank's first years were difficult. Initially, the
Under the new protectorate regime, the State Bank of Morocco suffered competition from the Banque de l'Algérie, whose banknotes had become legal tender in Morocco during World War I, together with French ones.[3]: 60 By 1919, it was unable to maintain a fixed parity between the Hassani rial and the French franc, and in October of that year, the fixed exchange rate was abandoned. By that time, there was a campaign by pro-Algerian interests and the French Finance Ministry for the money issuance privilege in Morocco to be transferred to the Banque de l'Algérie, thus achieving monetary unification of French North Africa. The French Foreign Ministry, the protectorate authorities and the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas pushed back against that project.[9] In March 1920, the State Bank demonetized the Hassani and issued notes and coins denominated in Moroccan franc. An operations account ensured that from December 1921 the Moroccan and French francs would trade at parity. That same month, the Banque de l'Algérie acquired the block of State Bank shares formerly controlled by Germany.[10] Eventually, however, the rivalry became costly for the Banque de l'Algérie. Starting in 1923, its governor Émile Moreau (who would become the State Bank's chairman in 1935) sought a compromise, and in early 1925 an agreement was made between the two institutions that practically sealed the dominance of the State Bank of Morocco (and through it, of the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas) over Morocco's monetary system.[9] By mid-1925, the former Austrian and Russian stakes and most of the Moroccan one had also passed under French control, which thus represented slightly over half of the State Bank's total equity capital.[11] The bank's business improved during the rest of the interwar period.[12]
In 1943, after Operation Torch had led to Allied control of Morocco, the State Bank transferred gold to a correspondent bank in Lisbon, in what the U.S. authorities viewed as an act of collaboration with Vichy France orchestrated by the Bank of France in Paris.[13]
In 1946, the State Bank received an extension for 20 years of its currency issuance monopoly. By 1947, the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas owned 57.2 percent of the State Bank's capital[3]: 59 and could appoint eight of its 14 Board members.[3]: 84 The State Bank was highly profitable throughout the 1950s.[3]: 84–85
In 1958, the newly independent Moroccan government started negotiations with France and the State Bank to reclaim for itself the right to issue money. Decree n° 1.59.233 of 30 June 1959 created the Banque du Maroc. The new central bank took over the issuance of money the next day, and replaced the State Bank of Morocco, while essentially keeping its Moroccan infrastructure and staff. The State Bank of Morocco's residual French operations, including the headquarters building on
Buildings
The State Bank had its corporate head office (French: siège social) in Tangier, its "seat of administration" (French: siège administratif) in Paris, and from 1925, its general management (French: direction générale) in Rabat. In Paris, where the State Bank's board of directors met, it was initially established at 3, rue Volney. On 4 December 1922 it moved to 33 rue La Boétie, where the bank also opened a branch office for its French customers and stayed until at least the late 1930s.[15] By 1950, it had relocated to 59 quai d'Orsay,[16] in the former Parisian mansion of aristocrat Robert de Vogüé who had died there in 1936.[17] The latter building was demolished in the early 1970s and replaced by the Embassy of South Africa in Paris .
At its creation in 1907, the State Bank of Morocco took over the Moroccan operations of the
In Tangier, the State Bank's head office was located in its property inherited from the
In Casablanca, the State Bank soon moved out of its initial branch in the
In Rabat, the State Bank purchased land in September 1921 for a building that would be representative of the city's enhanced status as Morocco's new capital.[33] The state-of-the-art building, designed by Auguste Cadet and Edmond Brion and in which central administrative functions were transferred from Tangier, was inaugurated on 15 December 1925 and was described as "the most beautiful modern monument of French Morocco".[34] It is now the central headquarters of Bank Al-Maghrib.
Aside from Rabat and Casablanca, Cadet and Brion worked jointly in the 1920s and early 1930s on the design of the State Bank's branches in
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Building at 33, rue La Boétie (center), the bank's Paris headquarters from 1922 to World War II
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New Tangier building inaugurated in 1952
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First Casablanca branch in the medina
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1917 view of place de France, with the State Bank's branch inaugurated in 1915 (center), across the boulevard du 4e Zouaves (now boulevard Houphouët-Boigny) from the clock tower
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Casablanca branch building on Mohammed V Square, inaugurated 1937
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Main façade of the Rabat building on Avenue Mohammed V, inaugurated 1925
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Rear view of the Rabat building, now entrance of the Bank al-Maghrib Museum
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Branch in Fez, early 1920s
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Branch in Oujda, 1926
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Branch in Tetouan, 1930
Leadership
The State Bank of Morocco's key officers were the chairman of the board (
Chairmen of the board
- Léopold Renouard (25 February 1907-9 March 1909) [12]
- Charles Demachy (19 March 1909-15 May 1912) [12]
- Stéphane Dervillé (18 May 1912-4 October 1925) [12]
- Jules Cambon (28 October 1925?-19 September 1935) [12]
- Émile Moreau (1935-1945?) [12]
- Émile Oudot (1945-1955) [3]: 84
- Henri Deroy (1955-1959) [3]: 84
Among the other board members,
Chief executives
- Georges-Hippolyte Gauran (1907-May 1921 in Tangier, and until the 1930s in Paris as co-CEO) [43]
- Paul Rengnet (May 1921-March 1927) [44]
- Georges Desoubry (March 1927 – 1942?) [12]
- Jean Bapst (1942?-1945?)
- Edmond Spitzer (1945-1957)
- François Bizard (1957-1959) [45]
Influence
The State Bank of Morocco served as a model for the National Bank of Albania (Albanian: Banka Kombëtare e Shqipnis, Italian: Banca Nazionale d’Albania), established on 2 September 1925. The National Bank had its Albanian seat in Durrës, later moved to the new capital of Tirana, but was created under Italian law and its board met in Rome.[46]
See also
References
- ^ a b Magali Chappert (1975), "Le Projet français de banque d'État du Maroc (1889-1906)", Outre-Mers. Revue d'histoire, LXII, n°229
- ^ "The Algeciras Conference of 1906". History Learning Site. May 2012. Retrieved 7 March 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Adam Barbe (August 2016), Public debt and European expansionism in Morocco from 1860 to 1956 (PDF), Paris: Paris School of Economics
- . Retrieved 2022-11-11.
- ^ Henri Cosnier (2 January 1913). "Au Maroc : Les Servitudes du Protectorat" (PDF). Les Annales coloniales.
- ^ U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations (1954), Department of Defense Appropriations for 1955: Supplemental Hearings Before the Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate, Eighty-third Congress, Second Session, on H.R. 8873, Making Appropriations for the Department of Defense and Related Independent Agencies for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1955, and for Other Purposes, Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, pp. 909–910
- ^ "Lettre du Maroc : Le régime d'Algésiras" (PDF). Le Temps. 7 January 1919.
- ^ "Le Traité franco-espagnol" (PDF). Le Temps. 1 December 1912.
- ^ a b Hubert Bonin (2008), "Les réseaux bancaires impériaux parisiens", Publications de la Société française d'histoire des outre-mers
- ^ "Banque de l'Algérie" (PDF). Les Annales coloniales. 2 December 1921.
- ^ a b "Supplément sur l'Afrique française" (PDF). Le Temps. 31 July 1925.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Banque d'Etat du Maroc" (PDF). entreprises-coloniales.fr. 2022.
- ^ Supplementary information on financial manipulation of collaborationists in French Africa - recent shipment of gold to Portugal by the Tangiers branch of the State Bank of Morocco under instructions from the Bank of France (PDF), 14 May 1943, pp. 295–297
- ^ Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas. "Assemblées générales extraordinaires des 26 juillet et 15 septembre 1960 : Rapports et résolutions". BNP Paribas.
- ^ "Banque de l'Etat du Maroc" (PDF). Les Annales coloniales. 8 December 1922.
- ^ "Le sultan est reçu par la Banque d'Etat du Maroc et par la Chambre de commerce de Paris". Le Monde. 20 October 1950.
- ^ "Art déco, résonances de l'ancien et du nouveau". Vingtième Siècle. Revue d'histoire. Paris: Presses de Sciences Po. 2012.
- ^ "La Banque du Maroc" (PDF). Les Annales coloniales. 2 May 1907.
- ^ "Semaine financière" (PDF). Le Temps. 26 June 1908.
- ^ "Maroc" (PDF). Les Annales coloniales. 14 June 1913.
- ^ "Banque d'Etat du Maroc" (PDF). Les Annales coloniales. 2 December 1921.
- ^ "La Banque d'Etat du Maroc" (PDF). Les Annales coloniales. 2 June 1928.
- ^ "Assemblées générales : Banque d'Etat du Maroc" (PDF). Le Temps. 23 June 1930.
- ^ a b "Edmond Brion". Agadir.
- ^ Jeremy Wayne (1 February 2020). "Beyond 'Casablanca'". WagMag.
- ^ "Maison d'Hôtes Palais Zahia: Notes de présentation et Emplacement" (PDF). Chambre Française de Commerce et d'Industrie du Maroc.
- ^ "Vidéo – Réouverture de l'agence historique de Bank Al-Maghrib à Tanger, après rénovation". Article 19.ma. 14 January 2020.
- ^ a b c "Le général Noguès inaugure le nouvel hôtel de la Banque de l'Etat du Maroc" (PDF). Le Petit Marocain. 17 October 1937.
- ^ "Banque D'Etat Du Maroc Casablanca Maroc CPA Postcard 8057". PicClick.
- ^ "CPA couleur Casablanca - La Banque d'Etat du Maroc. 1922". Delcampe.
- ^ "Casamémoire : Histoire de l'urbanisme de Casablanca". Casamemoire.org.
- ^ "Le sultan visite le nouvel immeuble de la Banque d'Etat" (PDF). Les Annales coloniales. 22 August 1938.
- ^ "Maroc : La Vie économique" (PDF). Les Annales coloniales. 30 September 1921.
- ^ "La nouvelle Banque d'Etat" (PDF). Le Temps. 26 November 1925.
- ^ "CPA Oudjda, Banque d´Etat". ansichtskartenversand.com.
- ^ Yassine Saber (18 February 2021). "Rectificatif". Le Blog d'Agadir.
- ^ "La banque d'Etat ancienne devient un musée début 2022". Agadir 1960. 16 February 2021.
- ^ "CPSM - FES Maroc - La Banque d'Etat et le Boulevard Poeymirau - N° 291 - Edit. CAP". Delcampe.
- ^ "Banque d'Etat du Maroc - Meknes 1925". Album Photo de Meknès.
- ^ Stacy Holden (2017), "An Islamicized Mausoleum for Maréchal Hubert Lyautey" (PDF), Hespéris-Tamuda, LII (2): 151–177
- ^ "Banque d'Etat" (PDF). L'Africain. 29 August 1930.
- ^ Mustafá Akalay Nasser (2013), "El ensanche de Tetuán: Síntesis de su historia arquitectónica (The Tetuan expansion: a brief account of its architectonic history)" (PDF), Akros: Revista de Patrimonio: 38
- ^ "Informations financières : Banque d'Etat du Maroc" (PDF). Le Gaulois. 19 May 1921.
- ^ "Le futur directeur de la Banque d'Etat du Maroc" (PDF). Les Annales coloniales. 14 March 1927.
- ^ Olivier Feiertag (2016), "L'organisation de Bank Al-Maghrib de 1959 à nos jours : l'émergence de la banque centrale au Maroc", Histoire, économie & société, 2016/4: 36–52
- ^ Jamie Martin (2022), The Meddlers: Sovereignty, Empire, and the Birth of Global Economic Governance, Harvard University Press, p. 289