The Short-Lived Banque Industrielle de Chine

Wikipedia has it that the Shanghai and Paris-based Banque Industrielle de Chine was chartered in 1913 and was closed in 1922. However, this advert is from 1925 and they appear to be still in business. This ad also indicates that the bank had an Antwerp branch. Apparently the collapse of the bank, after Chinese borrowers refused to repay in the early 1920s, was a scandal as the establishment of the bank had been a joint project of the French and Chinese governments (according to Xu Guoqi in Strangers on the Western Front the bank was established to handle the finances of the Chinese laborers’ recruited by France to work during the First World War). Others mutter of dark forces on the French right destroying the bank, and allied to the competitor Banque de L’Indochine, bent on undermining the Banque Industrielle. It seems a political face saving fix was eventually found and the bank did not go bankrupt but was closed and funds were injected into other banks.

An ad for the bank from 1925

A beautifully ornate Banque Industrielle de Chine bond issuance certificate from 1913