I have been living in Odesa for over a year now and I am actively studying the history of the city. And now, passing again near this building, I wondered how the banking business was born here.
After studying several sources, I decided that it might be interesting for you too, so I decided to share the information. What if it becomes interesting to you too? )
Money changers - the first usurers and currency dealers
When Odesa was only a few years old, it had not yet had time to acquire its banks. Therefore, all monetary transactions were entirely in the hands of the money changers, most of whom came to Odesa from the Mediterranean countries.
At first, these operations were the simplest - currency exchange for sailors who arrived in the city on merchant ships. Huge sums passed through the dexterous hands of the Odesa money changers. The first "financial tycoons" were experienced people: they could identify counterfeit coins by eye and quickly in their minds made very complex conversions of exchange rates. Over time, the duties of the money changers expanded - they began to engage in usury, lending money at interest to those who needed them.
As soon as a new ship appeared in the Odesa port, the money changers immediately rushed to the port to be the first to meet foreign sailors. However, it was not difficult to exchange money in the city. In the centre of Odesa, right on the streets, some tables can be considered the first "currency exchange offices". True, it was not the well-groomed young ladies who sat behind them, but the seasoned and nosy natives of the south, who changed any currency that existed in nature.
It was difficult to surprise Odesa residents with banknotes of other countries, and it was quite possible to get Turkish lira or Greek drachmas for change from the domestic ruble. The residents of the city took it calmly, but the visitors were very embarrassed by such a bright monetary variety.
The city developed thanks to banks
Most of the exchange shops were located at the corner of Deribasovskaya and Rishelievskaya streets. The place for this was extremely successful - there was a Greek casino on the corner, where Odesans and visitors not only gathered to play but also made deals. As contemporaries argued, it was here that the largest commercial operations began, which went down in the history of local entrepreneurship.
The financial heart of the city was concentrated on Rishelievskaya, between Deribasovskaya and Lanzheronovskaya, and this street retained its "banking" profile for a hundred years. At first, banking institutions were concentrated in the hands of Greek and Italian merchants, but over time they were ousted by Odesa financial figures. Banks began to play an important role in the city's economy, providing financing for trade and industry.
In 1801, when the population of our city did not exceed 9 thousand people, 2 banking houses were opened here - Fournier and Reno. The main engine of banking at that time was traded. And trade requires loans. Therefore, over the period 1801-1917, more than 30 trade and credit institutions were opened in Odesa. Let's talk about some of them, the most famous.
Some of the major banking houses of the time
Banking house "F. P. Rodokanaki & Co."
Banking house "F. P. Rodokanaki and Co ”, which had a branch in St. Petersburg, in Odesa was located at 10 Primorsky Boulevard. And the Rodokanaki Trading House was opened in 1819, 10 years before the banking one. The head of the enterprise was a merchant of the 1st guild and commercial adviser Fyodor Pavlovich, one of the leaders of his class in Novorossiya. Its commercial turnover reached 5 million rubles. He was, as you might guess, a Greek from the island of Chios, but the glory of our city beckoned him to the opposite shore of the Black Sea, and fate gave him a woman from Odesa.
As a result, the former Greek emigrant Fyodor Pavlovich in 1837 already had the title of honorary citizen of Odesa, the gold medal "Diligence" for wearing on the Annenskaya ribbon and a gold medal for wearing in the buttonhole on the Alexander ribbon - for charitable work and the cessation of the plague in Odesa. He also had other awards. Fyodor Pavlovich was among the founders of the Central Bank of the Russian Underground Credit, the St. Petersburg International Commercial Bank.
After himself, the respected banker left a fortune of more than 4 million rubles to his wife and son Pericles. The son, however, led an idle life, did not increase his father's inheritance, and by 1899 no more than two million remained of Fyodor Pavlovich's money. The adopted son of Pericles, it seems, also did not have the grip of the first Rodokanaki, and by 1914 the bank was no longer on the list of active trade and credit institutions.
Banking house “E. Ashkenazi"
It was located on Rishelievskaya, 4. It was founded in 1866 by Eugene Ashkenazi. Family ties tied him with the Gunzburgs' house. Thanks to this, the bank carried out large lending operations. Ashkenazi was also the creator and owner of shares in Zvezda South-East Shipping Company JSC.
In 1915-1917. the Ashkenazi family-owned property exceeding 5 million rubles. They owned 5 houses (including one in Vorontsovsky Lane), 2 shops, a factory on Peresyp, a summer residence on French Boulevard and the Mamshak estate in the Yevpatoria area. House Ashkenazi kept temporarily free money in the Accounting, International, Siberian, United commercial banks; receiving, of course, income from interest, income from commission transactions with interest-bearing securities, especially from the sale of government loans.
The bank's profit in 1916 amounted to more than 186 thousand rubles. In 1917 - 260 thousand. This was the last year of the bank's activity.
Banking house "Rafalovich and Co"
In 1833, Rafalovich's banking house was opened in Odesa, which provided loans to individuals. For many years his work was successful, but in 1891 the bank went bankrupt. And the reason, paradoxically, was the honesty of its owner. Rafalovich was close friends with Alexander Abaza, the chairman of the country's finance committee. Abaza, having learned that the government was preparing a secret financial operation, decided, as they say, to warm his hands on it. He secretly joined the stock exchange game, which was a pure gamble, and drew Rafalovich into it.
The banker was a decent man and completely trusted Abaza. He suspected something wrong only when he lost 800 thousand rubles at once. However, Abaza only reassured him. And then Rafalovich decided to fix the situation on his own. But since he was not privy to the intricacies of the scam, he only exacerbated the situation, losing all his money this time.
The only positive thing was that the government-assisted Rafalovich, as he became an innocent victim of the official's machinations. Abaza, who earned a million rubles for the misfortune of a friend, was forced to resign after the publicity of the case.
Odesa banks were reliable
The international affairs of Odesa banks were very successful. This can be judged by a letter sent to the government office in 1845. If we translate the clerical style into ordinary language, then it said that banks in the south of the country, in particular those in Odesa, guaranteed payment of money abroad to each of their clients on demand. Moreover, the client could request almost any amount. And this could only be promised by those banks whose reliability was not in doubt.