Activities of the Bank of Indochina in Vietnam from 1875 to 1945

CONCLUDE

1. The modern banking system is closely linked to the market economy and the capitalist mode of production and circulation. The history of the formation and development of the Bank of Indochina throughout its existence (from 1875 to 1945) is also closely linked to the colonial economic model of the French colonialists. It can be said that the presence of French finance in Indochina was first marked by the organization of a strong, tightly controlled bank. The Bank of Indochina, shortly after its establishment, became one of the most outstanding banking institutions in the banking system in the colonies.

2. The Bank of Indochina was not just a bank but had developed into a business group present in all industries and economic sectors. The reason it could do this was because behind it was the support, protection and shelter of the colonial government of Indochina. The Indochina government was the founding shareholder of the bank, nominally to control the bank but in reality to ensure that the Bank of Indochina had the power to operate and control the economic issues of Indochina. Thus, the Bank of Indochina had all the powers: from " financial power " to " government " and even " divine power ". This was what enabled the Bank of Indochina to organize and carry out plans to exploit our people at the highest level.

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3. In terms of organization, the Bank of Indochina is a super-powerful organization. It is the bank that exclusively issues currency, performing the functions of a Central Bank. In addition, it is also a monetary business agency such as exchanging money, accepting deposits, lending, transferring money, making payments... which are the functions of a Commercial Bank.

All of the above activities make it gain huge profits, and they are getting richer and richer on the sweat and tears of the people of Indochina in general, and the people of Vietnam in particular.

4. The Bank of Indochina acts as a Central Bank. However, the Central Bank nature of this bank is closely linked to its purpose.

The purpose of colonial exploitation and the management of French economic interests in Indochina was to diversify financial acquisitions, while at the same time concealing exploitation methods under the guise of “ contributing to promoting Vietnam’s backward agricultural economy .” This was truly killing two birds with one stone.

In addition to creating currency, the French presence in Indochina, from the very beginning, set in motion an institution whose task was to carry out a cooperation between individuals and public powers. The Bank of Indochina was fully designated to that task as “ the heart and brain of the Indochinese economy ”.

5. The Bank of Indochina was established in the context of the French occupation of Cochinchina and the Saigon branch of the Paris National Discount Bureau was not capable of managing currency. This shows the importance of monetary policy in the invasion and exploitation of colonies. The model of the Bank of Indochina and its Saigon branch established within only three months is the most eloquent evidence of the role of the monetary system and the importance of monetary control in the colonial exploitation strategy of the colonial government; not only that, its importance and significance remain intact in modern economic management methods later.

6. The French colonialists turned the Indochina Bank into a machine that completely served their colonial exploitation policy, by designating the majority of the Indochina budget to be deposited at the Indochina Bank under the category of “expenditure on offices serving economic development” which was very large every year. This amount of money was contributed by the Vietnamese people, but it did not bring any benefit to the people but always multiplied in the bank. In the end, the “economic development fund” only served to make French capitalism exploit our people more and more sophisticatedly and cunningly.

7. The fact that the Bank of Indochina directly or indirectly actively participated in exploitative practices in all fields of agriculture, industry, trade, and transportation in Vietnam clearly shows us that the French colonialists turned the backward feudal agricultural economy into a backward agricultural economy.

Colonial. In conclusion, the Vietnamese economy after nearly a century of " civilization " by French colonialism is still a backward agricultural economy, although the degree of backwardness varies.

8. The Bank of Indochina directly or indirectly caused countless scenes of tragedy and suffering for the people due to usury, gambling, opium smoking, drinking alcohol... In addition, the policy of appropriation and privilege in all economic sectors as well as the policy of nurturing henchmen to appropriate land from Vietnamese farmers by French capitalists led to the disastrous result of making the majority of Vietnamese people increasingly impoverished every day. And this was also the darkest period of Indochina in general and Vietnam in particular under the rule of French colonialism, "hidden" behind it was the effective support of the Bank of Indochina. The establishment of the Bank of Indochina quickly took control of the entire "blood vessels" of the Indochina economy, thereby carrying out the plot to "tie" the Indochina economy to France, including Vietnam. Therefore, today, when we have the opportunity to look back, we realize that most of the countries that were formerly French colonies are mostly poor and backward. That proves how insidious France's colonial exploitation policy was.

However, in today's integration trend, we need to have an objective view and fair assessment of the establishment and operation of the Bank of Indochina. Besides the consequences that the bank has directly or indirectly caused to the Vietnamese people, it also has some positive contributions:

The first contribution is the birth of the Bank of Indochina and its branches in Vietnam, which changed the thinking of the Vietnamese people. Now, the Vietnamese people in trade and exchange use the language of " currency ". Contributing to the transformation of the small-scale agricultural economy in our country into an economy with capitalist elements.

The second contribution was the establishment of the Indochina Bank branch in Saigon on April 19, 1875, marking the beginning of banking activities in Vietnam.

Nam. The lessons learned on how to manage the banking system of the Bank of Indochina have left many lessons on how to manage and operate the banking system in Vietnam today.

The third contribution is to lay the foundation for the organization of business activities of Vietnamese banks later. Specifically, foreign exchange activities; money exchange; money transfer; credit; mortgage; pledge... have left us many lessons from the organization method, customer objects, mortgage procedures, management and operation... as well as professional techniques that can be studied and learned by us, especially those working in the banking industry.

The fourth contribution is that the Bank of Indochina used government capital or mobilized capital to directly invest, open businesses, take over and monopolize the market, leaving many lessons for current managers and policy makers. Therefore, the State Bank of Vietnam, drawing on experience, strictly prohibited commercial banks from using mobilized capital to open companies and directly do business, as well as participating in investments outside the industry.

In addition, we also see some works that still mark the contributions of the Indochina Bank to this day, such as some railways built by the colonial government (with capital from the Indochina Bank), which have now become an indispensable means of transportation for the Vietnamese people. Or architectural works such as the current headquarters of the State Bank of Vietnam is the headquarters of the Indochina Bank in Hanoi; the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange is the former headquarters of the Indochina Bank in Saigon. The traffic routes and architectural works built at that time were not aimed at developing the economy and the lives of the Vietnamese people. But they also partly contributed to changing the face of Vietnam at that time, as evidenced by the fact that Saigon during the French period was known as the "Pearl of the Far East" .

We are living in a modern society, when the war is over, so we need to close the past and look to the future to contribute to making the relationship between Vietnam and France even better.

Although, by 1954, when the French army withdrew from Vietnam and the activities of the Indochina Bank were no longer in Vietnam, its name did not disappear from the market. Until 1975, the Indochina Bank (Banque de L'Indochine) merged with Banque de Suez et de L'Union Mines des to form Banque de Suez. The merger inherited the business skills, reputation and brand of the Indochina Bank, combined with Banque de Suez et de L'Union Mines des, which had a large presence in Europe, to form a stronger system. On the other hand, taking advantage of the capacity of the Indochina Bank, which now had a large network in Asia and the Middle East, the name of Banque de Suez et de L'Union Mines des emerged as a global name.

Thus, after nearly a century of operation, today the name of the Bank of Indochina is no longer present, but its reputation and illustrious career still leave a strong mark on the banking industry. In Vietnam, the Vietnam Credit Agricole Enterprise and Investment Bank (see Appendix G: Bank of Indochina after 1975) is considered the descendant of the Bank of Indochina, still operating very effectively, making positive contributions to the current economic development of Vietnam./.

LIST OF AUTHOR'S PUBLISHED WORKS RELATED TO THE TOPIC

1. Bank of Indochina - Money issuance activities and the birth of the Vietnamese monetary system during the French colonial period, Ho Chi Minh City Open University Science Journal, No. 4, 2011.

2. Some features of the operation process of the Bank of Indochina, Proceedings of the Scientific Conference "Research and teaching history, culture, society", Social Sciences Publishing House, Hanoi, 2014.

3. Activities of the Bank of Indochina in Vietnam from 1875 to 1945 , Vinh University Science Journal, Volume 43, No. 1B, 2014.

4. The birth and monopoly of money issuance of the Bank of Indochina in Vietnam , Journal of Historical Research, No. 2/2016.

5. Credit activities of the Indochina Bank branch in Saigon from 1875 to 1945 , Ho Chi Minh City Journal of Social Sciences, No. 4/2016.

REFERENCES

A. Vietnamese Documents

1. Nguyen The Anh (2007), Vietnam under French colonial rule , Literature Publishing House.

2. J.Aumiphin (1994), French financial and economic presence in Indochina

(Dinh Xuan Lam translated), Vietnam Historical Science Association, Hanoi.

3. Truong Chinh (1960), August Revolution , Truth Publishing House, Hanoi.

4. P.Doumer (1905), L'Indochine française (Memoirs of Indochina) , Vuibert et Nony, Éditeurs, Paris (translated by Luu Dinh Tuan - Hieu Constant - Le Dinh Chi - Hoang Long - Vu Thuy. The Gioi Publishing House, Hanoi, 2016)

5. Nguyen Khac Dam (1957), Exploitation methods of French capitalism in Vietnam , Literature, History and Geography Publishing House, Hanoi.

6. Nguyen Dinh Dau (1998), "Saigon Currency 1859-1954", Magazine Past and Present

No. 55B/1998, Ho Chi Minh City General Science Library.

7. Luong Huu Dinh (1998), "Currency during the Indochina Bank period", Past and Present Magazine No. 55B/1998, Ho Chi Minh City General Science Library.

8. Tran Van Giau (1956-1957), Anti-Invasion Volume II , Hanoi Publishing House.

9. Tran Van Giau, Dinh Xuan Lam (1961), Modern History of Vietnam, Volume 3 , Education Publishing House, Hanoi.

10. Yves Henry (1932), Agricultural Economy of Indochina (Économie agricole de L'Indochine, HaNoi), Translation kept at the Library of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

11. Le Huynh Hoa (2003), "Saigon Port and Economic Transformation of Cochinchina during the French Colonial Period (1860-1939)", PhD Thesis in History , Ho Chi Minh City.

12. Ngo Van Hoa, Pham Quang Trung (2002), Monetary system in our country in modern times, Journal of Historical Research , No. 5.

13. Nguyen Van Khanh (2004), Socio-economic structure of Vietnam during the colonial period (1858-1945) , National University Publishing House, Hanoi.

14. Phan Khoang (1971), Vietnam - French Colonial History , Publishing House of the Ministry of State in charge of culture, Huong Viet 34 Le Loi, Saigon.

15. Le Thanh Khoi (2016), History of Vietnam from its origin to the mid-20th century , The Gioi Publishing House, Hanoi.

16. Dinh Xuan Lam (2010), Outline of Vietnamese History, Volume II (1858-1945),

Vietnam Education Publishing House, Hanoi.

17. History of the State Bank of Vietnam (draft), Volume 1 , Hanoi, 1976, Documents of the Institute of History, code Vv351.

18. Tran Huy Lieu, Nguyen Luong Bich, Nguyen Khac Dam (1957), Modern Vietnamese Revolution: Vietnamese Society during the French-Japanese Period , Literature-History-Geography Publishing House, Hanoi.

19. C. Marx (1976), Capital, Volume 1, Volume 1, Truth Publishing House, Hanoi.

20. Meuleau Marc (1981), Histoire de la Banque de l'Indochine 1875-1975 (History of the Bank of Indochina 1875-1975) , Fayadd, Paris (translated by René Ngoc Nhan and posted on the website: http://renengocnhan.wordpress.com).

21. Ho Chi Minh (2002), Complete Works , Volume 1, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi.

22. "Bank of Indochina financial monopoly", Past and Present Magazine , No. 71, January 2000, Ho Chi Minh City General Science Library.

23. Tran Viet Nghia (2012), "Rice export in Vietnam during the French colonial period (1858-1945)", Journal of Historical Research , No. 10.

24. Tran Thi Bich Ngoc (1998), "French banks and Saigon before 1954", Special issue of Xua va Nay Magazine , Ho Chi Minh City General Science Library.

25. Tran Nham (1998), 300 years of Saigon Ho Chi Minh City , National Political Publishing House.

26. Nguyen Thi Phuong (2008), "History of formation and development of rubber plantations in the Eastern region of Cochinchina during the French colonial period through archival documents", Research - Exchange Journal , No. 4.

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