The role of the manufacturers in the activity of the accounting and loan committee at Ivanovo-Voznesensk branch of the Russian State Bank

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the participation of the manufacturers in the activities of the accounting and loan committee for commercial and industrial loans at Ivanovo-Voznesensk branch of the State Bank of the Russian Empire. The article was prepared on the basis of archival materials from the State Archives of Ivanovo Region and, first of all, personal data from the personal files of Mefodiy Garelin and Dmitriy Burylin – the committee’s members. Using the prosopographic method, the typical qualities inherent in the business image of the members of the accounting and loan committee at Ivanovo-Voznesensk branch of the State Bank in the pre-revolutionary period were determined. The committee invited manufacturers with an impeccable business reputation, held in the field of public, representative and social activities. The mechanism of their invitation was regulated by circulars of the State Bank, and the candidates nominated were approved by the Minister of Finance of the Russian Empire. The entrepreneurs who were on the committee were characterised by a good state of property and trade affairs. In addition, the manufacturers were competent in those branches of trade and industry that were of financial interest for Ivanovo-Voznesensky branch of the State Bank. The members of the committee from the entrepreneurial circles of Ivanovo-Voznesensk informed the bank's management about the state of various branches of trade and industry, impartially assessed the creditworthiness of individuals, and were guarantors of the return of borrowed funds to the bank. The branch of the bank, guided by the information received from the manufactures, carried out more economically reliable operations for the accounting of bills and the issuance of loans. The authors conclude that the manufacturers as part of the accounting and loan committee at Ivanovo-Voznesensk branch of the State Bank carried out a socially significant and state-important type of activity.