The Ottoman Bank ( Turkish : Osmanlı Bankası ), known from 1863 to 1925 as the Imperial Ottoman Bank ( French : Banque Impériale Ottomane , Ottoman Turkish : بانق عثمانی شاهانه ) and correspondingly referred to by its French acronym BIO , was a bank that played a major role in the financial history of the Ottoman Empire . By the early 20th century, it was the dominant bank in the Ottoman Empire, and one of the largest in the world.
186-521: It was founded in 1856 as a British institution chartered in London, and reorganized in 1863 as a French–British venture with head office in Constantinople , on a principle of strict equality between British and French stakeholders. It soon became dominated by French interests, however, primarily because of the greater success of its offerings among French savers than British ones. In its early years,
372-594: A French passenger ship. The bank was able to reopen on a nearby location on 1 May 1903. In 1903, the Cairo Stock Exchange was first established under leadership of businessman Moïse Yacoub (Moussa) Cattaui, in the former BIO branch building on what is now Adly Street. From 1904 on, the BIO was able to accelerate the expansion of its branch network, including in Egypt. One of the BIO's aims in opening new branches
558-819: A bifurcation of the Ottoman Bank into two mutually autonomous groups. Constantinople Constantinople ( see other names ) became the capital of the Roman Empire during the reign of Constantine the Great in 330. Following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the late 5th century, Constantinople remained the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire (also known as the Byzantine Empire ; 330–1204 and 1261–1453),
744-830: A branch office in Khan Antoun Bey [ ar ] , then the main building in the Beirut Souks . It also had a branch in Galaţi in Moldavia , complemented by Bucharest in Wallachia from 1861. The bank made some poor credit allocation decisions, suffered from the 1860 civil conflict in Mount Lebanon and a financial crisis in 1861, and met hostility from the Galata bankers. By early 1862, circumstances favored
930-556: A call for aid from Alexius , the First Crusade assembled at Constantinople in 1096, but declining to put itself under Byzantine command set out for Jerusalem on its own account. John II built the monastery of the Pantocrator (Almighty) with a hospital for the poor of 50 beds. With the restoration of firm central government, the empire became fabulously wealthy. The population was rising (estimates for Constantinople in
1116-634: A city-state until it was annexed by Darius I in 512 BC into the Persian Empire , who saw the site as the optimal location to construct a pontoon bridge crossing into Europe as Byzantium was situated at the narrowest point in the Bosphorus strait. Persian rule lasted until 478 BC when as part of the Greek counterattack to the Second Persian invasion of Greece , a Greek army led by
1302-667: A commercial institution; railway companies, the Sun Insurance and the Hudson's Bay Company were leading customers. Vere died in 1766 leaving Glyn and Hallifax as partners; they traded satisfactorily until the financial panic of 1772 when the Bank had to stop payment for some weeks and narrowly avoided bankruptcy. One of those who provided temporary finance for the Bank was Sir John Salter, one-time Lord Mayor of London , but only on condition that his son-in-law, William Mills, could enter
1488-538: A group of British and French representatives, supported by the two countries' embassies, and the Ottoman authorities. As Layard had suspected in late 1856, and in spite of the replacement of Fuad by Yusuf Kamil Pasha as Grand Vizier, the compromise that was found on the new bank's governance stipulated that its formal head office, board of directors and general manager would be located in Constantinople, but that
1674-681: A leading role for Egypt. The BIO opened a branch in Tunis in 1920, and three branches in Persia , namely Kermanshah (1920), Hamadan and Tehran (both in 1922). Between 1919 and 1923, it made an abortive attempt to expand into the South Caucasus region with branches in Baku , Batumi , and Tbilisi . The BIO, however, declined in May 1920 the suggestion to be the anchor investor in a new state bank of
1860-763: A limited number of locations such as Bursa, Damascus, Edirne, Salonica, and Smyrna. It restarted distributing dividends from 1880. During the turmoil of the 1870s, and despite French hostility to Germany following defeat in the Franco-Prussian War , the BIO started reaching out to Austrian and German partners. Its acquisition of the Austro-Ottoman Bank in 1874 had given it connections in Vienna , and in 1881 it entered an informal partnership with banks Creditanstalt of Vienna and S. Bleichröder of Berlin to invest in joint projects, which became known as
2046-408: A market downturn in London, but that was promptly put to an end by a show of support by the Ottoman government including a 12-year extension of the BIO's convention term, from 1913 to 1925. The BIO subsequently reorganized its management to make it less centralized, placing the branch network under deputy general manager Gaston Auboyneau, and sharply reduced its exposures to railway projects and those in
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#17327656584092232-750: A network in Bulgaria beyond the branch in Philippopoli that had opened in 1878, opening in Sofia in 1890 and (once again) in Ruse in 1892. From 1891, the BIO started opening savings accounts for retail customers in Turkey (and a bit earlier in Egypt). The 1890s were the time when the BIO's banknotes started circulating widely throughout the empire, instead of being largely confined to use in Constantinople as had been
2418-646: A new bodyguard known as the Varangian Guard . They were known for their ferocity, honour, and loyalty. It is said that, in 1038, they were dispersed in winter quarters in the Thracesian Theme when one of their number attempted to violate a countrywoman, but in the struggle she seized his sword and killed him; instead of taking revenge, however, his comrades applauded her conduct, compensated her with all his possessions, and exposed his body without burial as if he had committed suicide. However, following
2604-667: A new city wall in his name, the Severan Wall. Constantine had altogether more colourful plans. Having restored the unity of the Empire, and, being in the course of major governmental reforms as well as of sponsoring the consolidation of the Christian church , he was well aware that Rome was an unsatisfactory capital. Rome was too far from the frontiers, and hence from the armies and the imperial courts, and it offered an undesirable playground for disaffected politicians. Yet it had been
2790-529: A new organization on the model of the Caisse de la Dette that had been established in 1876 for Egypt, but with greater consideration of Ottoman sensitivities. The Treaty of Berlin of 13 July 1878 partly addressed the debt challenge by establishing revenue flows from the newly independent territories ( Bulgaria , Montenegro , Eastern Rumelia and Serbia ), thus supporting the payment of the Ottoman public debt and war reparations . By convention of 22 November 1879
2976-408: A number of branches. The late-1895 liquidity crisis was the most severe experienced by the BIO so far, but also eliminated many of its local competitors including several of the remaining Galata bankers. In the 1900s, the bank was continuously involved in efforts to work out the Ottoman public debt, including the negotiation of a restructuring enshrined in the decree of 14 September 1903 together with
3162-627: A partial recovery. With the advent of the Ottoman Empire in 1299, the Byzantine Empire began to lose territories, and the city began to lose population. By the early 15th century, the Byzantine Empire was reduced to just Constantinople and its environs, along with Morea in Greece, making it an enclave inside the Ottoman Empire. The city was finally besieged and conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1453, remaining under its control until
3348-513: A serious crisis in 1895. Following World War I , the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas (known since the 1980s as Paribas ) took control of the BIO, and renamed it Ottoman Bank in 1925. The bank's remaining public-interest privileges and monopolies were phased out. Its operations outside Turkey were gradually dismantled, a process that was completed in 1975. The Ottoman Bank became Turkish-owned when Garanti Bank purchased it from Paribas in 1996, and
3534-523: A significant block of BIO shares from a group of investors who had tried and failed to force the creation of an Italian constituency in the BIO's governance. After initial misgivings in both Paris and London, the BPPB thus became the BIO's controlling shareholder. It would maintain that position until 1996. In the BIO's core area of operations, the Turkish War of Independence disrupted its business until
3720-572: Is known about this initial settlement. The site, according to the founding myth of the city, was abandoned by the time Greek settlers from the city-state of Megara founded Byzantium ( Ancient Greek : Βυζάντιον , romanized : Byzántion ) in around 657 BC, across from the town of Chalcedon on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus. Hesychius of Miletus wrote that some "claim that people from Megara, who derived their descent from Nisos, sailed to this place under their leader Byzas, and invent
3906-669: Is still used by members of the Eastern Orthodox Church in the title of one of their most important leaders, the Orthodox patriarch based in the city, referred to as "His Most Divine All-Holiness the Archbishop of Constantinople New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch". In Greece today, the city is still called Konstantinoúpoli(s) ( Κωνσταντινούπολις/Κωνσταντινούπολη ) or simply just "the City" ( Η Πόλη ). Constantinople
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#17327656584094092-803: The Battle of Kars and the Siege of Plevna . During that turbulent period, the BIO reduced its activity and cost base and suspended dividends, while its claims on the Ottoman state ballooned. In the spring of 1878, following the Treaty of San Stefano and cessation of hostilities, the BIO lobbied for a resolution of the Ottoman public debt situation to be considered at the Congress of Berlin . The chairman of its Paris committee, Charles Mallet [ fr ] , suggested to French foreign minister William Waddington
4278-658: The Burning of Smyrna . Some branches such as Aydın , Afyonkarahisar , Erzurum and Kütahya only reopened in late 1923. Following its victory of the Turkish War of Independence , the Republic of Turkey signed a convention with the BIO on 10 March 1924, under which it provided credit to the new Republican government in Ankara as well as its two banking champions, Ziraat Bank and the newly established İşbank . The BIO did not resume note issuance but agreed to continue servicing
4464-763: The Church of John the Baptist to house the skull of the saint (today preserved at the Topkapı Palace ), put up a memorial pillar to himself in the Forum of Taurus, and turned the ruined temple of Aphrodite into a coach house for the Praetorian Prefect ; Arcadius built a new forum named after himself on the Mese, near the walls of Constantine. After the shock of the Battle of Adrianople in 378, in which Valens and
4650-582: The Church of the Resurrection or the New Church. Chariot-racing had been important in Rome for centuries. In Constantinople, the hippodrome became over time increasingly a place of political significance. It was where (as a shadow of the popular elections of old Rome) the people by acclamation showed their approval of a new emperor, and also where they openly criticized the government, or clamoured for
4836-624: The Comptoir National d'Escompte de Paris and the Banque Française pour le Commerce et l'Industrie . The deterioration of security in the three Ottoman provinces of Macedonia (Salonica, Monastir and Üsküb ) during the period of Macedonian Struggle led the Western powers to request administrative reforms in the region. Rather than having to countenance yet more foreign intervention, Sultan Abdul Hamid II in early 1905 asked
5022-628: The Earl of Jersey . Following the death of Lord Jersey, the executors were told that the Bank of England would not permit a sale to one of the Big Five. Glyn's, the largest private bank and the sole survivor of the private banks in the Clearing House , seemed the most desirable association. The approach of World War II threatened the viability of the private bank with the prospect of casualties and death duties straining capital resources. In 1939
5208-782: The First Republic of Armenia , promoted by Calouste Gulbenkian . In Cyprus and the near east the BIO further opened branches in Paphos (1918), Kirkuk (1920), and Troödos (1921), Bethlehem , Ramallah , and Nablus (1922), in the Musky neighborhood of Cairo and in Ismailia (1924), Amman (1925), and Tel Aviv (1931). Conversely, it had to close both its branches in Arabia (Jeddah and Hodeida) and many in Albania, northern Greece and
5394-599: The Geneva -based Société Financière Franco-Suisse in 1892 (joint venture with Union Financière de Genève ), and the Brussels -registered Société Financière d'Orient in 1896, which was actually managed from Paris. Starting in 1894, the BIO invested in South African gold mines. The rapid expansion of these and other BIO exposures led to an incipient bank run at Constantinople in early November 1895, following
5580-639: The Golden Horn an excellent and spacious harbor. Already then, in Greek and early Roman times, Byzantium was famous for the strategic geographic position that made it difficult to besiege and capture, and its position at the crossroads of the Asiatic-European trade route over land and as the gateway between the Mediterranean and Black Seas made it too valuable a settlement to abandon, as Emperor Septimius Severus later realized when he razed
5766-669: The Khedivate of Egypt , the BIO opened a branch in Cairo in early 1881, and its main branch in Alexandria withstood the riots during the ʻUrabi revolt in 1882. Negotiations on the Ottoman debt eventually started in Constantinople on 13 September 1881, and led to the agreement known by its ratification instrument, the Decree of Muharram of 20 December 1881, which closed the period of financial distress that had started in 1875. It created
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5952-777: The Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). Following the Turkish War of Independence , the Turkish capital then moved to Ankara . Officially renamed Istanbul in 1930, the city is today the largest city in Europe , straddling the Bosporus strait and lying in both Europe and Asia , and the financial center of Turkey . In 324,following the reunification of the Eastern and Western Roman Empires,
6138-415: The Ottoman Public Debt Administration under a council of seven members, of which one was to be appointed by the BIO and to represent the signatories of the convention of November 1879, whose claims were reduced in line with the decree's general debt restructuring. Meanwhile, the BIO endeavored to implement its role of treasurer under the convention of February 1875, which in principle was still applicable, in
6324-424: The Pax Romana , for nearly three centuries until the late 2nd century AD. Byzantium was never a major influential city-state like that of Athens , Corinth or Sparta , but the city enjoyed relative peace and steady growth as a prosperous trading city lent by its remarkable position. The site lay astride the land route from Europe to Asia and the seaway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean , and had in
6510-437: The Pereire brothers , Alexis Pillet-Will , Casimir Salvador, and Antoine Jacob Stern [ fr ] . Alexandre de Plœuc [ fr ] became the first general manager in Constantinople, with Edward Gilbertson as his deputy and the local board being otherwise composed of John Stewart, representing the London and Paris committees, and local bankers Antoine Alléon and Charles Simpson Hanson. The early activity of
6696-431: The Rothschild family (in London, Paris and Vienna), the Pereire brothers (in Paris), and a group of British financiers around Austen Henry Layard and the private bank Glyn, Mills & Co. The Ottoman government opted for the latter, which it identified as better preserving the country's independence from western financiers in comparison with the assertive approaches of the Rothschilds and Pereires. The British project
6882-406: The Severan dynasty in 235. Byzantium took on the name of Constantinople ( Greek : Κωνσταντινούπολις, romanized : Kōnstantinoupolis; "city of Constantine") after its refoundation under Roman emperor Constantine I , who transferred the capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium in 330 and designated his new capital officially as Nova Roma ( Νέα Ῥώμη ) 'New Rome'. During this time, the city
7068-526: The collapse of Barings Bank in 1890. Betrand Currie led the investigation into Barings' affairs at the instigation of the Bank of England and was the largest contributor outside the Bank of England to the rescue fund, undertaking to contribute £500,000 provided that Rothschilds did the same. Faced with the growing power of the “big five” banks after World War I Glyn Mills made its own acquisitions – Holt & Co. in 1923 (briefly becoming Glyn, Mills Currie Holt & Co) and Child & Co. in 1924 when
7254-424: The "Consortium". Their first venture was to form a company to sell tobacco products, for which they obtained assent from the Ottoman Public Debt Administration which held rights over tobacco revenue, formed an entity known as Régie in 1883, and secured a thirty-year monopoly from 1884. The Régie or Ottoman Tobacco Company had a difficult start fighting smuggling, but became prominent enough that it shared half of
7440-430: The 12th century vary from some 100,000 to 500,000), and towns and cities across the realm flourished. Meanwhile, the volume of money in circulation dramatically increased. This was reflected in Constantinople by the construction of the Blachernae palace, the creation of brilliant new works of art, and general prosperity at this time: an increase in trade, made possible by the growth of the Italian city-states, may have helped
7626-423: The 12th century. Toward the end of Manuel I Komnenos 's reign, the number of foreigners in the city reached about 60,000–80,000 people out of a total population of about 400,000 people. In 1171, Constantinople also contained a small community of 2,500 Jews. In 1182, most Latin (Western European) inhabitants of Constantinople were massacred . In artistic terms, the 12th century was a very productive period. There
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7812-402: The 1870s the BIO had cut most of its exposure to the SGEO, which was eventually liquidated at the expiration of its initial 30-year term in 1893, at the time when the BIO was starting to develop its own commercial and retail banking operations throughout the Empire. Also in 1864, the BIO opened a branch in Salonica , the main Ottoman port city where it was not already present, and another one in
7998-518: The Aegean (Shkodër, Ioannina, Serres, Drama, Komotini, Mytilene, and Rhodes). In the Levant, following the secret Sykes–Picot Agreement of 1916, the French authorities pressured the BIO to transform its branches in the territories under French influence into a separate subsidiary. On 2 January 1919, the BIO consequently sponsored the establishment of a new Banque de Syrie , of which it initially held 94.45 percent ownership and which opened operations in Marseille and Beirut in April 1919. The situation in
8184-416: The Asian side of Constantinople, to Anatolia and ultimately to Baghdad , which would later be known as part of the Berlin–Baghdad railway . In 1888, it formed a group of investors to this effect together with Bleichröder and the Disconto-Gesellschaft in Berlin, but Deutsche Bank won a competing concession later that year and the BIO redirected its focus to railway projects in the Levant and Syria. From 1888,
8370-559: The Austro-Ottoman Bank ( French : Banque austro-ottomane , German : Austro-Ottomanische Bank ) sponsored by the Anglo-Austrian Bank and Wiener Bankverein in 1871, and the Austro-Turkish Bank ( French : Banque austro-turque , sometimes Société de crédit austro-turque ) in 1872. Neither survived the financial turmoil of the 1870s; the Austro-Ottoman Bank was merged into the BIO in 1874. The Ottoman state's continued financial challenges led successive grand viziers Mehmed Rushdi Pasha and Hüseyin Avni Pasha to seek an expansion of
8556-432: The BIO and eventually liquidated by 1872. In October 1867, the BIO opened a branch in Alexandria , its first in the Khedivate of Egypt . In 1868, a commercial branch was opened in Paris, first at 30, boulevard Haussmann; in 1870 it moved to the prestigious address of 7, rue Meyerbeer, facing the Palais Garnier , where it would remain for more than a century. In 1868, the Ottoman Bank faced its first serious competitor with
8742-400: The BIO and the Deutsche Bank agreed on a joint approach for the railway project toward Baghdad, which would unfold and unravel in subsequent years. On 18 February 1903 in Paris, the two institutions agreed to form a financing syndicate, an operating company and a construction company to execute the project. On 5 March 1903, a final act of concession was signed in Constantinople. But the project
8928-424: The BIO decided to leverage its international identity and to re-emphasize the complementarity between London and Paris in its governance, even though by then only about a tenth of its shareholding base was British. It even envisaged co-opting some American nationals into its London and Paris committees. It regrouped the direction of its activities in Cyprus, Palestine, Mesopotamia and Arabia in London, which already had
9114-408: The BIO sought a new impetus by appointing Edgar Vincent as managing director for a term of five years. In March 1890, the BIO accepted a new restructuring of its lending to the government, and went on to work out other segments of the Ottoman debt legacy under favorable credit conditions in the early 1890s. It sponsored financial affiliates in third countries for purposes of financial arbitrage, namely
9300-476: The BIO to take over the full treasury service in the three Macedonian provinces along the terms of the convention of February 1875, which had never been formally abrogated. Simultaneously as he led the financial relationship with the Ottoman government in the early 1890s, Edgar Vincent initiated a program of opening new branch offices, particularly in Anatolia and beyond, as previously considered in 1865 and 1874 but never before implemented at scale. The BIO restarted
9486-408: The BIO was again the target of an action intended to shock Western European public opinion, this time by Bulgarian nationalists participating in the Macedonian Struggle . The Boatmen of Thessaloniki , an anarchist group, bombed the bank's branch in Salonica and adjacent buildings on 29 April 1903, killing a night guard, as part of a two-day campaign of terrorist attacks that also damaged railways and
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#17327656584099672-425: The BIO was given a 25 percent stake, most of which it sold on to other investors including the Comptoir d'Escompte de Paris and Société Générale . This initiated an informal partnership between the BIO and Deutsche Bank, which gradually replaced the Consortium especially after Gerson von Bleichröder passed away in 1893. The BIO was involved in early considerations of a railway from Haydarpaşa railway station , on
9858-422: The BIO was involved in the creation of the Compagnie du port de Beyrouth to develop the Port of Beirut together with the Compagnie de la route de Beyrouth à Damas led by Edmond de Perthuis. This was the first time the BIO acted in close coordination with the French government, which promoted the project. Construction works were completed in 1894, including the demolition of the ancient Beirut Castle , and
10044-483: The BIO was mostly about providing financing to the Ottoman government, even though as early as August 1865 the bank's staff was concerned about the creditworthiness of its main debtor, and the BIO was by no means the only player on that market. The BIO was not entirely oblivious of the broader financing needs of the Ottoman economy, however. As a complement to its own activity of lending to the Imperial government and international financial transactions, it sponsored in 1864
10230-403: The BIO was principally a lender to the Ottoman government with a monopoly on banknote issuance and other public-interest roles, including all treasury operations of the Ottoman state under an agreement ratified in February 1875 that was however never fully implemented. In the 1890s, it pivoted to a greater emphasis on commercial and investment banking, which it developed with lasting success despite
10416-463: The BIO were generally allowed to keep their jobs. A later attempt by Talaat Bey to nationalize the BIO failed in July 1915, in part due to opposition from Deutsche Bank with which the BIO had a longstanding partnership, and to advocacy by Mehmed Cavid that the BIO's survival as a credible institution was in the Ottoman state's longer-term interest. The ways the war affected individual branches were extremely diverse. In eastern Anatolia and elsewhere,
10602-543: The BIO's leadership led by Cartali managed to obtain exemptions for many of its Armenian staff from the Armenian genocide . The BIO's staff in Syria and Mesopotamia were also able to provide some financial services to deported Armenians despite the hostile environment. Throughout the war, the BIO kept processing the local financial transactions of the Ottoman government through its unparalleled network of branches, which made it easier to secure protection for its staff. It mostly refrained, however, from new lending business to either
10788-404: The BIO, some £40,000, which would have been lost had the bank been forced to close. In Constantinople, the BIO declined to further finance the government, and unilaterally renounced its issuance privilege, leaving the Ottoman authorities to issue paper money as they had already done in the late 1870s. On 31 December 1914, with no hope of receiving more credit from the BIO, Talaat Bey requested
10974-448: The Bosporus and plundered the monasteries and other properties on the suburban Princes' Islands . Oryphas , the admiral of the Byzantine fleet, alerted the emperor Michael, who promptly put the invaders to flight; but the suddenness and savagery of the onslaught made a deep impression on the citizens. In 980, the emperor Basil II received an unusual gift from Prince Vladimir of Kiev: 6,000 Varangian warriors, which Basil formed into
11160-435: The British and French shareholders. Contrary to the desires of the Ottoman authorities, however, Layard insisted that they should not control the bank's management, only conceding a "supervisor" role for a high-ranking Ottoman official. In contrast to Layard, a competing British investor group led by Joseph Paxton presented a project to establish a "Bank of Turkey" with a Governor and Vice Governor who would be both appointed by
11346-408: The Caesar (Emperor)', from the Slavonic words tsar ('Caesar' or 'King') and grad ('city'). This was presumably a calque on a Greek phrase such as Βασιλέως Πόλις ( Vasileos Polis ), 'the city of the emperor [king]'. In Persian the city was also called Asitane (the Threshold of the State), and in Armenian , it was called Gosdantnubolis (City of Constantine). The modern Turkish name for
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#173276565840911532-428: The Cypriot port city of Larnaca . In November 1865, however, the shareholders rejected plans for more ambitious branch network expansion. In 1866, political developments in the newly formed United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia led the BIO to transform its two branches there, in Galaţi (est. 1856) and Bucharest (est. 1861) to a local subsidiary, the Bank of Romania , while their bad assets were retained by
11718-515: The Danube about this time and advanced into Thrace, but he was deserted by many of his followers, who joined with the Romans in driving their king back north of the river. Subsequent to this, new walls were built to defend the city and the fleet on the Danube improved. After the barbarians overran the Western Roman Empire, Constantinople became the indisputable capital city of the Roman Empire. Emperors were no longer peripatetic between various court capitals and palaces. They remained in their palace in
11904-418: The Doge and the leading Franks were installed in the Great Palace, and the city was given over to pillage for three days. Glyn, Mills %26 Co. Glyn, Mills & Company was a private bank founded in London in 1753, which existed until 1969, when it became part of the Royal Bank of Scotland . The bank was founded under the name Vere, Glyn & Hallifax . Joseph Vere was an experienced banker who
12090-424: The French government to counter the German-sponsored Berlin–Baghdad railway. The rebranded Société ottomane des chemins de fer Damas–Hamah et prolongements eventually built a line to Hama in 1902, prolonged to Aleppo in 1906 and completed by an east–west branch between Homs and Tripoli in 1911. In 1906, the BIO relocated its Beirut branch to a new building on the port's waterfront. In May 1899 in Berlin,
12276-411: The Gate of the Droungarios ( Turkish : Odun Kapısı ) on the Golden Horn. Nevertheless, the destruction wrought by the 1197 fire paled in comparison with that brought by the Crusaders. In the course of a plot between Philip of Swabia , Boniface of Montferrat and the Doge of Venice , the Fourth Crusade was, despite papal excommunication, diverted in 1203 against Constantinople, ostensibly promoting
12462-420: The Great City and sent generals to command their armies. The wealth of the eastern Mediterranean and western Asia flowed into Constantinople. The emperor Justinian I (527–565) was known for his successes in war, for his legal reforms and for his public works. It was from Constantinople that his expedition for the reconquest of the former Diocese of Africa set sail on or about 21 June 533. Before their departure,
12648-406: The London Bankers' Clearing House , but the collapse of Overend Gurney prevented the implementation of the deal. In 1885, Glyn, Mills took the unprecedented step for a private bank of producing half-yearly balance sheets. It showed that the bank's was larger than popularly realised, "only rivalled by two or three of the largest joint-stock banks". The bank's size and prestige was demonstrated by
12834-433: The Mediterranean basin, Constantinople came to be known by prestigious titles such as Basileuousa (Queen of Cities) and Megalopolis (the Great City) and was, in colloquial speech, commonly referred to as just Polis ( ἡ Πόλις ) 'the City' by Constantinopolitans and provincial Byzantines alike. In the language of other peoples, Constantinople was referred to just as reverently. The medieval Vikings, who had contacts with
13020-443: The Ottoman Bank started its operations and opened its first branches, Layard soon understood that a different scheme would be needed to secure the issuance privilege. In a communication to Grand Vizier Mustafa Reşid Pasha in December 1856, he outlined what would eventually be the concept of the still-to-come BIO: a head office in Constantinople, but governance by two parallel committees in London and Paris that would be accountable to
13206-409: The Ottoman authorities farmed out six revenue streams to a BIO-led syndicate for a duration of ten years, namely stamp duty , taxes on alcohols, on fishing in Constantinople, on silk in four provinces, and the salt and tobacco monopolies, the latter two being by far the largest. This pledging of the so-called six contributions was widely understood as a stopgap measure pending a comprehensive solution to
13392-641: The Ottoman declaration of war in November 1914. A run left the BIO's local operation with less than £4,000 in its vaults, and no means of replenishing its reserves from the head office in Constantinople. The bank was briefly closed by the island's British authorities and then allowed to re-open effectively as a separate semi-state company. In part this compromise seems to have been reached as the British authorities in Cyprus had themselves deposited their entire funds at
13578-578: The Ottoman government, but the latter temporized as it preferred a solution that would combine British and French stakeholders, mirroring the Crimean War coalition. As high-ranking official Mehmed Fuad Pasha put it in May 1856 to French Ambassador Thouvenel, the Sublime Porte 's wish "was to perpetuate as much as possible the spirit of alliance that saved Turkey during the war, namely providing equal shares to French and English interests." Even as
13764-584: The Ottomans such as Basra from February 1915, Mytilene from June 1917, and Palestine from January 1918, as well as Trabzon during its occupation by Russian forces. The BIO opened a branch in Marseille in 1916 to centralize the relations with France of its branches in Egypt and Greece. In Cyprus , nominally an Ottoman province but administered by the UK since 1878, the island was annexed in immediate response to
13950-659: The Spartan general Pausanias captured the city which remained an independent, yet subordinate, city under the Athenians, and later to the Spartans after 411 BC. A farsighted treaty with the emergent power of Rome in c. 150 BC which stipulated tribute in exchange for independent status allowed it to enter Roman rule unscathed. This treaty would pay dividends retrospectively as Byzantium would maintain this independent status, and prosper under peace and stability in
14136-651: The Sublime Porte. Paxton's project was endorsed by the Ottoman government in March 1857 but, as Layard had anticipated, it failed to raise investor interest in London. A follow-up effort by some of Paxton's associates under the same name of "Bank of Turkey" started operations in 1858, but had to be placed into liquidation in 1861. Without the issuance privilege, the Ottoman Bank had modest beginnings with six staff in Constantinople (12 in 1858) and four in Smyrna as well as
14322-549: The Thracian shore at the mouth of the Pontos, where two pups drink of the gray sea, where fish and stag graze on the same pasture, set up their dwellings at the place where the rivers Kydaros and Barbyses have their estuaries, one flowing from the north, the other from the west, and merging with the sea at the altar of the nymph called Semestre" The city maintained independence as
14508-469: The Turkish alphabet was changed from Arabic script to Latin script. After that, as part of the Turkification movement, Turkey started to urge other countries to use Turkish names for Turkish cities , instead of other transliterations to Latin script that had been used in Ottoman times and the city came to be known as Istanbul and its variations in most world languages. The name Constantinople
14694-508: The UK. By then, three-quarters of the BIO's shareholders were French, the rest were mostly British, and its most senior managers were nationals from the two countries. Its seats in London and Paris were not treated harshly by the respective governments, but they were forbidden from transacting with the head office which was now in enemy territory. Conversely, London and Paris kept control of the bank's operations on allied ground, including Egypt, Cyprus, northern Greece, and territories conquered from
14880-664: The Varna branch closed in 1882. Meanwhile, immediately after the Berlin Congress created Eastern Rumelia in 1878, the BIO opened a branch in the capital Philippopoli (later Plovdiv ). As Cyprus came under British rule, the BIO promptly opened branches in Nicosia and Limassol in 1879 to serve the new authorities on the island, with a dominant position despite local competition from the Anglo-Egyptian Bank . In
15066-500: The Zafiropoulo & Zafiri partnership, and Christakis Zografos , as well as international partners Bischoffheim & Goldschmidt (Paris and London), Frühling & Göschen (London and Leipzig ), Oppenheim, Alberti et Cie (Paris), Augustus Ralli ( Marseille ), Stern Brothers (London), and Siegmund Sulzbach [ de ] ( Frankfurt ). After a few years, however, the relations within that group deteriorated, and by
15252-466: The accession of Theodosius I , emperors had been resident only in the years 337–338, 347–351, 358–361, 368–369. Its status as a capital was recognized by the appointment of the first known Urban Prefect of the City Honoratus, who held office from 11 December 359 until 361. The urban prefects had concurrent jurisdiction over three provinces each in the adjacent dioceses of Thrace (in which the city
15438-542: The agreement was ratified by firman of Sultan Abdulaziz . On 5 March 1863, the Ottoman government registered the new Imperial Ottoman Bank which could then start its operations. That same day in London, the shareholders of the English-chartered Ottoman Bank voted to liquidate it in accordance with the November 1862 agreement, a process that was only finalized in June 1865. Meanwhile, the transfer of
15624-497: The ancient city of Byzantium was selected to serve as the new capital of the Roman Empire, and the city was renamed Nova Roma, or 'New Rome', by Emperor Constantine the Great . On 11 May 330, it was renamed Constantinople and dedicated to Constantine. Constantinople is generally considered to be the center and the "cradle of Orthodox Christian civilization ". From the mid-5th century to the early 13th century, Constantinople
15810-593: The attack left eight dead and fourteen wounded among the Armenian activists, the Ottoman police, the bank's staff and clients. In the late 1890s, the Bulgarian government requested the transformation of the BIO's branches in the country into a fully fledged local bank. The BIO attempted to create a "Bank of Sofia" with support from Bleichröder and Berliner Disconto-Gesellschaft, but that did not succeed and all three Bulgarian locations were liquidated in 1899. In 1903,
15996-633: The authorities fueled inflation by issuing new Ottoman liras in the form of paper currency or kaime , as they had done during the Crimean War, which were later repurchased at a depreciated rate. On 24 April 1877, Russia in turn declared war on the Ottoman empire. Following protracted negotiations in London, the BIO led a new loan backed by the tribute from the Khedivate of Egypt , which was partly released from its pledging as collateral for prior Ottoman borrowing in 1854 and 1871, but its placement failed in December 1877 following Ottoman military setbacks at
16182-516: The bank would operate the Ottoman treasury in all provinces where it had a branch, and would open new branches where it was not already present. The BIO would receive a fee of 0.75 percent on all government financial transactions, and 1 percent on short-term government debt issuance. The BIO subsequently absorbed the Austro-Ottoman Bank at the Porte's request, and led a major Ottoman bond issuance in several phases, later in 1874 and early 1875. Nevertheless,
16368-719: The blue and green factions, innocent and guilty. This came full circle on the relationship within the Hippodrome between the power and the people during the time of Justinian. Fires started by the Nika rioters consumed the Theodosian basilica of Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom), the city's cathedral, which lay to the north of the Augustaeum and had itself replaced the Constantinian basilica founded by Constantius II to replace
16554-778: The branch in Shkodër in October 1914 following local turmoil. Some of the bank's branches hosted other public services. For example, the BIO branch in the eastern Anatolian city of Van also served as the local office of the Ottoman Tobacco Company , the Ottoman Public Debt Administration , and the Ottoman Post Office [ tr ] . On 1 November 1914, the Ottoman Empire entered World War I against France and
16740-563: The capital of the state for over a thousand years, and it might have seemed unthinkable to suggest that the capital be moved to a different location. Nevertheless, Constantine identified the site of Byzantium as the right place: a place where an emperor could sit, readily defended, with easy access to the Danube or the Euphrates frontiers, his court supplied from the rich gardens and sophisticated workshops of Roman Asia, his treasuries filled by
16926-686: The case until then. On 26 August 1896, the BIO's new head office in Galata , inaugurated on 27 May 1892, was the scene of a dramatic episode, remembered as the occupation of the Ottoman Bank . Activists of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation stormed the building to draw international attention to the plight of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire that were the targets of the Hamidian massacres . The bank's managers negotiated their safe exit and transfer to Marseille . Even so,
17112-697: The city could no longer be supplied from Egypt as a result of the Persian wars: the population fell substantially as a result. While the city withstood a siege by the Sassanids and Avars in 626, Heraclius campaigned deep into Persian territory and briefly restored the status quo in 628, when the Persians surrendered all their conquests. However, further sieges followed the Arab conquests , first from 674 to 678 and then in 717 to 718 . The Theodosian Walls kept
17298-565: The city has it told that the settlement was named after the leader of the Megarian colonists, Byzas . The later Byzantines of Constantinople themselves would maintain that the city was named in honor of two men, Byzas and Antes, though this was more likely just a play on the word Byzantion . The city was briefly renamed Augusta Antonina in the early 3rd century AD by the Emperor Septimius Severus (193–211), who razed
17484-568: The city impenetrable from the land, while a newly discovered incendiary substance known as Greek fire allowed the Byzantine navy to destroy the Arab fleets and keep the city supplied. In the second siege, the second ruler of Bulgaria , Khan Tervel , rendered decisive help. He was called Saviour of Europe . In the 730s Leo III carried out extensive repairs of the Theodosian walls, which had been damaged by frequent and violent attacks; this work
17670-431: The city to the ground for supporting Pescennius Niger 's claimancy . It was a move greatly criticized by the contemporary consul and historian Cassius Dio who said that Severus had destroyed "a strong Roman outpost and a base of operations against the barbarians from Pontus and Asia". He would later rebuild Byzantium towards the end of his reign, in which it would be briefly renamed Augusta Antonina , fortifying it with
17856-404: The city to the ground in 196 for supporting a rival contender in the civil war and had it rebuilt in honor of his son Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (who succeeded him as Emperor), popularly known as Caracalla . The name appears to have been quickly forgotten and abandoned, and the city reverted to Byzantium/Byzantion after either the assassination of Caracalla in 217 or, at the latest, the fall of
18042-574: The city, İstanbul , derives from the Greek phrase eis tin Polin ( εἰς τὴν πόλιν ), meaning '(in)to the city'. This name was used in colloquial speech in Turkish alongside Kostantiniyye , the more formal adaptation of the original Constantinople , during the period of Ottoman rule, while western languages mostly continued to refer to the city as Constantinople until the early 20th century. In 1928,
18228-730: The city. Constantine laid out a new square at the centre of old Byzantium, naming it the Augustaeum . The new senate-house (or Curia) was housed in a basilica on the east side. On the south side of the great square was erected the Great Palace of the Emperor with its imposing entrance, the Chalke , and its ceremonial suite known as the Palace of Daphne . Nearby was the vast Hippodrome for chariot-races, seating over 80,000 spectators, and
18414-477: The claims of Alexios IV Angelos brother-in-law of Philip, son of the deposed emperor Isaac II Angelos . The reigning emperor Alexios III Angelos had made no preparation. The Crusaders occupied Galata , broke the defensive chain protecting the Golden Horn , and entered the harbour, where on 27 July they breached the sea walls: Alexios III fled. But the new Alexios IV Angelos found the Treasury inadequate, and
18600-619: The construction of the Theodosian Walls in the early 5th century, it was extended to the new Golden Gate , reaching a total length of seven Roman miles . After the construction of the Theodosian Walls, Constantinople consisted of an area approximately the size of Old Rome within the Aurelian walls, or some 1,400 ha. The importance of Constantinople increased, but it was gradual. From the death of Constantine in 337 to
18786-574: The convention of May 1874 became an object of controversy in Constantinople, not least among foreign powers other than France and the UK, namely the German Empire and especially the Russian Empire . It was renegotiated into an amended version, which was signed on 17 February 1875 and promptly ratified by Sultan Abdulaziz, with a reduction of the BIO's commission on treasury operations from 0.75 to 0.5 percent. The creation of new branches
18972-564: The creation of Crédit Général Ottoman , a rival institution sponsored by France's Société Générale and several Galata bankers including the Tubini family but also Christakis Zografos and Stefanos Zafiropoulo, who had been the BIO's partners in the SGEO venture. The Crédit Général Ottoman was a major underwriter of Ottoman treasury bonds, but ceased to operate in 1899. Two other competitors were promoted soon afterwards by Austria-Hungary , namely
19158-526: The creation of a separate bank that would focus on lending to local businessmen and local government. That "younger sister", named the Société Générale de l'Empire Ottoman (SGEO, "General Company of the Ottoman Empire"), had as initial shareholders the BIO itself together with a number of Galata bankers such as Aristide Baltazzi [ de ] , the Camondo family bank , Boghos Mısırlıoğlu,
19344-604: The death of an Emperor, they became known also for plunder in the Imperial palaces. Later in the 11th century the Varangian Guard became dominated by Anglo-Saxons who preferred this way of life to subjugation by the new Norman kings of England . The Book of the Eparch , which dates to the 10th century, gives a detailed picture of the city's commercial life and its organization at that time. The corporations in which
19530-531: The debt problem, which the BIO kept advocating. The war and its aftermath affected the BIO's network. In Bulgaria, the recently created branch in Ruscuk was transferred in May 1877 to Varna . Its activity restarted in 1878 but was then again transferred to Varna. The BIO considered building it up into a national bank, as it had done in Romania in 1866, but that project failed given the new country's instability, and
19716-648: The defenses of Constantinople proved impenetrable for nearly nine hundred years. In 1204, however, the armies of the Fourth Crusade took and devastated the city, and for several decades, its inhabitants resided under Latin occupation in a dwindling and depopulated city. In 1261, the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos liberated the city, and after the restoration under the Palaiologos dynasty, it enjoyed
19902-641: The dismissal in late April 1875 of its champion Hüseyin Avni Pasha. The BIO syndicated a number of new loans throughout 1875 but retained little of them on its own balance sheet. Starting with the Herzegovina uprising in July 1875, the Great Eastern Crisis resulted in renewed financial stress. On 6 October 1875, grand vizier Mahmud Nedim Pasha unilaterally decided and announced a change in
20088-476: The early 19th century, prominent sarraf families had coalesced into a community mainly based in the Galata neighborhood of Constantinople , known as the Galata bankers [ tr ] which operated as family businesses. The first formal banking establishment that was not strictly family-controlled was a joint venture between the Ottoman state and two prominent Leventine Galata bankers, Jacques Alléon and Theodore Baltazzi [ de ] , which took
20274-460: The early 20th century, after which it was renamed Istanbul under the Empire's successor state , Turkey. According to Pliny the Elder in his Natural History , the first known name of a settlement on the site of Constantinople was Lygos , a settlement likely of Thracian origin founded between the 13th and 11th centuries BC. The site, according to the founding myth of the city, was abandoned by
20460-655: The empire through their expansion in eastern Europe ( Varangians ), used the Old Norse name Miklagarðr (from mikill 'big' and garðr 'city'), and later Miklagard and Miklagarth . In Arabic, the city was sometimes called Rūmiyyat al-Kubra (Great City of the Romans) and in Persian as Takht-e Rum (Throne of the Romans). In East and South Slavic languages, including in Kievan Rus' , Constantinople has been referred to as Tsargrad ( Царьград ) or Carigrad , 'City of
20646-585: The empress Irene restored the veneration of images through the agency of the Second Council of Nicaea in 787. The iconoclast controversy returned in the early 9th century, only to be resolved once more in 843 during the regency of Empress Theodora , who restored the icons. These controversies contributed to the deterioration of relations between the Western and the Eastern Churches. In
20832-528: The fable that his name was attached to the city". Some versions of the founding myth say Byzas was the son of a local nymph , while others say he was conceived by one of Zeus' daughters and Poseidon . Hesychius also gives alternate versions of the city's founding legend, which he attributed to old poets and writers: It is said that the first Argives, after having received this prophecy from Pythia, Blessed are those who will inhabit that holy city, a narrow strip of
21018-682: The famed Baths of Zeuxippus . At the western entrance to the Augustaeum was the Milion , a vaulted monument from which distances were measured across the Eastern Roman Empire. From the Augustaeum led a great street, the Mese , lined with colonnades. As it descended the First Hill of the city and climbed the Second Hill, it passed on the left the Praetorium or law-court. Then it passed through
21204-552: The financial operations of the public treasury, pending the creation of a new national bank, which only came in 1931 with the establishment of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey . In line with the new circumstances, the bank's name was changed back to Ottoman Bank in May 1925; even so, it was the only institution allowed to keep the word "Ottoman" in its name. Two other conventions, respectively in 1933 and 1952, led to
21390-420: The financing of the Ottoman government, but reduced the exposures it retained on its own balance sheet. In 1886, it agreed on a restructuring of its outstanding loans to the government. It subsequently restarted short-term lending to the Ottoman treasury, but attempted to limit the corresponding amounts, which generated serious friction with finance minister Hagop Kazazian Pasha in the late 1880s. In October 1889,
21576-504: The firm became known as Glyn, Mills, Currie & Co – a name that was maintained until 1923. The ownership of the bank was determined by family group and not individuals: the Glyn and Mills families were entitled to two-fifths each and the Currie family, one-fifth. Two years later, in 1866, a group of Scottish banks agreed to purchase half the capital of Glyn Mills in order to obtain a seat in
21762-401: The first Byzantine cathedral, Hagia Irene (Holy Peace). Justinian commissioned Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus to replace it with a new and incomparable Hagia Sophia . This was the great cathedral of the city, whose dome was said to be held aloft by God alone, and which was directly connected to the palace so that the imperial family could attend services without passing through
21948-569: The flower of the Roman armies were destroyed by the Visigoths within a few days' march, the city looked to its defences, and in 413–414 Theodosius II built the 18-metre (60-foot)-tall triple-wall fortifications , which were not to be breached until the coming of gunpowder. Theodosius also founded a University near the Forum of Taurus, on 27 February 425. Uldin , a prince of the Huns , appeared on
22134-438: The front and grown long at the back, and wide-sleeved tunics tight at the wrist; and to form gangs to engage in night-time muggings and street violence. At last these disorders took the form of a major rebellion of 532, known as the "Nika" riots (from the battle-cry of "Conquer!" of those involved). The Nika Riots began in the Hippodrome and finished there with the onslaught of over 30,000 people according to Procopius, those in
22320-424: The full normalization of the Ottoman Bank's status as a commercial bank. In 1947, it redeemed its last circulating banknotes (all issued before 1914) and reimbursed them in gold at par, an achievement unmatched by any other note-issuing bank since the beginning of World War I. Under the direction of the BPPB, the Ottoman Bank kept its dual British–French structure with individual country operations allocated to one or
22506-424: The government or the private sector, which led to a considerable erosion of its market share. Following the end of World War I, the BIO determined that its former activity as a state bank had limited prospects, and that its future lay in the expansion of retail, commercial and investment banking services in the eastern Mediterranean. Instead of relocating its head office to France as it had briefly considered in 1918,
22692-469: The government's financial agent both domestically and abroad. The bank would thus provide services of a central bank with simultaneous commercial operations, a combination that was not unusual at the time. These arrangements were enshrined in a concession agreement which Kamil signed on 27 January 1863 together with Fuad, foreign minister Mehmed Emin Âli Pasha , finance minister Mustafa Fazıl Pasha , and chief auditor Ahmed Vefik Pasha . On 4 February 1863,
22878-442: The greatest works of Greek and Roman art were soon to be seen in its squares and streets. The emperor stimulated private building by promising householders gifts of land from the imperial estates in Asiana and Pontica and on 18 May 332 he announced that, as in Rome, free distributions of food would be made to the citizens. At the time, the amount is said to have been 80,000 rations a day, doled out from 117 distribution points around
23064-400: The growth of the economy. It is certain that the Venetians and others were active traders in Constantinople, making a living out of shipping goods between the Crusader Kingdoms of Outremer and the West, while also trading extensively with Byzantium and Egypt . The Venetians had factories on the north side of the Golden Horn, and large numbers of westerners were present in the city throughout
23250-510: The imposition of war reparations on the Empire in the treaties of Bucharest and Constantinople , but did not obtain a reduction of the Ottoman debt in proportion to the Empire's territorial losses. The early years of the war period did not interrupt the rapid expansion of the BIO's branch network, with 31 openings from 1908 to 1914, despite the closing of Benghazi and Tripoli following Italy's victory in Libya . An advert of early 1914 lists 83 branches, sub-branches and offices, in addition to
23436-400: The invaders poured in. Alexios V fled. The Senate met in Hagia Sophia and offered the crown to Theodore Lascaris , who had married into the Angelos dynasty , but it was too late. He came out with the Patriarch to the Golden Milestone before the Great Palace and addressed the Varangian Guard . Then the two of them slipped away with many of the nobility and embarked for Asia. By the next day
23622-435: The issuance privilege. In response, the Ottoman bank reached out to the Pereire brothers and their Crédit Mobilier , who assembled a group of distinguished French investors. On 16 November 1862 in Paris, the British and French negotiators reached an agreement that foresaw the winding up of the Ottoman Bank and transfer of its business to a newly created institution. Negotiations in Constantinople followed in December 1862 between
23808-402: The late 11th century catastrophe struck with the unexpected and calamitous defeat of the imperial armies at the Battle of Manzikert in Armenia in 1071. The Emperor Romanus Diogenes was captured. The peace terms demanded by Alp Arslan , sultan of the Seljuk Turks, were not excessive, and Romanus accepted them. On his release, however, Romanus found that enemies had placed their own candidate on
23994-399: The late Roman and early Byzantine periods, Christianity was resolving fundamental questions of identity, and the dispute between the orthodox and the monophysites became the cause of serious disorder, expressed through allegiance to the chariot-racing parties of the Blues and the Greens. The partisans of the Blues and the Greens were said to affect untrimmed facial hair, head hair shaved at
24180-412: The latter would be a foreign national and ultimately report to the committees to be formed in London and Paris. The Porte would only appoint a Commissioner with limited powers of oversight. The issuance privilege would be initially granted for a duration of thirty years, and came with a full tax exemption. The bank would execute all financial operations of the Ottoman Treasury in Constantinople, and would be
24366-437: The line would not be profitable. From 1894 to 1897 it led the development of the railway from Smyrna to Afyonkarahisar , known as Smyrne Cassaba & Prolongements . In 1896, the BIO played a major role in the establishment of a coal mining company in Heraclea on the Black Sea shore, now Karadeniz Ereğli , the main coal mine in Asia Minor. During the 1880s, 1890s and 1900s, the BIO kept its dominant role in orchestrating
24552-421: The many languages of the Ottoman Empire . In Turkey after 1925, the bank increasingly operated under its Turkish name Osmanlı Bankası . The Ottoman Empire had traditionally relied on credit from individual financiers known as sarraf , which included not only Muslims but also Armenians , Greeks , Jews , and Levantines (long-established, mostly Catholic or Jewish families of western European descent). In
24738-404: The name of Banque de Constantinople in 1847 but was wound up in 1852. Another project, proposed as the Banque Nationale de Turquie by French entrepreneur Ariste Jacques Trouvé-Chauvel , was considered by the Ottoman government in 1853 but not implemented. During the Crimean War that started in October 1853, France and Great Britain were allied in support of the Ottoman Empire. In 1855,
24924-423: The name reverted to Glyn Mills & Co. Holt's were army agents in Whitehall which in turn supported a private banking business. It was founded in 1809 by William Kirkland who opened an office in St James's. Regiments were gradually added to Holt's portfolio and the Navy agency of Woodhead and Co. was absorbed in 1915. Child's history predated that of the Bank of England and for over 100 years it had been owned by
25110-425: The new head office building that the BIO had erected for itself in Galata in 1892. From 1882, the Consortium sought to develop railways in the European part of the Ottoman Empire, or Rumelia , with the aim to connect Constantinople to Vienna. The Ottoman government in 1869 had granted the concession for what was known as the Chemins de fer Orientaux to international financier Maurice de Hirsch , who did not start
25296-463: The new port facility started operations on 1 January 1895. In 1891, the BIO participated in the creation of the Société des Chemins de fer ottomans économiques de Damas–Beyrouth–Hauran to build a railway connecting Beirut with Damascus and the Hauran region to its south, with the main Beirut–Damascus branch completed in June 1895. Further northwards extensions, however, turned out to be commercially and financially problematic, despite pressure from
25482-863: The old bank's operations in Constantinople to the new one had been completed on 1 June 1863. The governance concept of the BIO was unique and unprecedented. The two committees in London and Paris were not expected to meet jointly; instead, decisions by one committee became effective once ratified by the other committee. The annual general meetings of its shareholders were held in London. The original committees included: in London, Sir William Clay (chair), James Alexander, John Anderson, Thomas Charles Bruce , George T. Clark, William Richard Drake, Pascoe St Leger Grenfell , Augustus Edward Hobart-Hampden , John W. Larking, Lachlan Mackintosh Rate, and John Stewart; and in Paris, Charles Mallet [ fr ] (chair), A. André, Vincent Buffarini, Raffaele de Ferrari , Achille Fould , Frédéric Greininger, Jean–Henri Hottinguer ,
25668-417: The other of the two committees. The Turkish bank itself and its subsidiaries in Syria, Lebanon and Yugoslavia remained under the Paris Committee. The London Committee managed the existing network in Cyprus and Egypt, and led new developments in Jordan (1925), Sudan (1949), Qatar (1956), Kenya , Uganda , Tanzania and Rhodesia (1958), Abu Dhabi (1962), and Oman (1969). Increasingly, this resulted in
25854-424: The oval Forum of Constantine where there was a second Senate-house and a high column with a statue of Constantine himself in the guise of Helios , crowned with a halo of seven rays and looking toward the rising sun. From there, the Mese passed on and through the Forum Tauri and then the Forum Bovis , and finally up the Seventh Hill (or Xerolophus) and through to the Golden Gate in the Constantinian Wall . After
26040-448: The partners agreed to the bank's sale to the Royal Bank of Scotland . Glyn Mills continued to trade separately, even to the point of acquiring the banking businesses of the British Overseas Bank and Anglo-International Bank in 1944, and of A Ruffer & Sons in 1946. However, in 1969 the Royal Bank of Scotland was restructured and the holding company's subsidiaries in England and Wales (Glyn, Mills & Co., Williams Deacon's Bank , and
26226-457: The partnership. When the Bank reopened it did so as Glyn, Hallifax and Mills . It was still of modest size: the number of staff was no more than seven in 1790, but over the next 40 years it rose to 51. The last Hallifax family member in the Bank died in 1850 and the bank became Glyn, Mills & Co. Conscious of the need to enlarge its financial resources, in 1864 the bank acquired another London private bank, Currie's (see Raikes Currie ), and
26412-415: The people rose again: Alexios IV was imprisoned and executed, and Murzuphlos took the purple as Alexios V Doukas . He made some attempt to repair the walls and organise the citizenry, but there had been no opportunity to bring in troops from the provinces and the guards were demoralised by the revolution. An attack by the Crusaders on 6 April failed, but a second from the Golden Horn on 12 April succeeded, and
26598-425: The reconsideration of the Ottoman Bank project. Foreign investors had grown more confident about the reforming intent of the Porte. Mehmed Fuad Pasha had become Grand Vizier and was eager to see a bank emerge with an effective banknote issuance capacity. In line with the insistent position of France's ambassador, he made clear that British–French equality of participation would remain a necessary condition for granting
26784-514: The region remained uncertain, however, until the French authorities expelled Emir Faisal from Syria in July 1920. Subsequently in 1921, the Banque de Syrie acquired from the BIO all its branches in the region, while the BIO sold some of its shares to local business leaders. In October 1920, the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas (BPPB), together with the Banque Industrielle de Chine , the Crédit Foncier d'Algérie et de Tunisie , and Basil Zaharoff 's Banque Commerciale de la Méditerranée , acquired
26970-512: The religious processions of the clergy. He removed Theodora from the Great Palace to the Carian Palace and later to the monastery of Gastria , but, after the death of Bardas, she was released to live in the palace of St Mamas; she also had a rural residence at the Anthemian Palace, where Michael was assassinated in 867. In 860, an attack was made on the city by a new principality set up a few years earlier at Kiev by Askold and Dir , two Varangian chiefs: Two hundred small vessels passed through
27156-401: The removal of unpopular ministers. It played a crucial role during the riots and in times of political unrest. The Hippodrome provided a space for a crowd to be responded to positively or where the acclamations of a crowd were subverted, resorting to the riots that would ensue in coming years. In the time of Justinian, public order in Constantinople became a critical political issue. Throughout
27342-422: The replacement of the three French senior executives (namely Arthur Nias, Louis Steeg, and Isidore Dupuis) with their most senior colleagues who were Ottoman nationals, namely Georges Cartali, Marius Hanemoglou, and Berch Kerestejian . Nias instructed the latter to act as a collegial leadership, before traveling back to France together with Dupuis and Steeg. The other British, French, Italian and Russian employees of
27528-443: The return of peace with the Treaty of Lausanne in July 1923. During the war, the BIO endeavored to keep a position of neutrality and instructed its branches to cooperate with whichever forces were in control of the territory, while temporarily closing them if the local conditions made business entirely impossible. Its branch building in Smyrna, by then located on the waterfront, was entirely destroyed by fire on 15 September 1922 during
27714-446: The role of the BIO by making it the operator of all imperial treasury operations, including all revenue collection, expenditures, and short-term funding, with the aim to restore confidence in the state's financial discipline and thus improve its access to credit. The Porte sent senior official Mehmed Sadık Pasha to Paris to negotiate the new convention in April 1874, and the text was promptly signed there on 18 May 1874. It stipulated that
27900-472: The ship of the commander Belisarius was anchored in front of the Imperial palace, and the Patriarch offered prayers for the success of the enterprise. After the victory, in 534, the Temple treasure of Jerusalem , looted by the Romans in AD 70 and taken to Carthage by the Vandals after their sack of Rome in 455, was brought to Constantinople and deposited for a time, perhaps in the Church of St Polyeuctus , before being returned to Jerusalem in either
28086-454: The state's financing became less central, in part because of rising competition from the Banque de Salonique (despite the acquisition by the BIO of a minority stake in 1911), the Deutsche Orientbank , created in 1906 by three German competitors of Deutsche Bank, and the National Bank of Turkey , created in 1909 by financier Ernest Cassel . Following Ottoman setbacks in the Balkan Wars , the BIO and Deutsche Bank successfully lobbied to avoid
28272-466: The streets. "The architectural form of the building was meant to reflect Justinian programmatic harmony: the circular dome (a symbol of secular authority in classical Roman architecture) would be harmoniously combined with the rectangular form (typical for Christian and pre-Christian temples)." The dedication took place on 26 December 537 in the presence of the emperor, who was later reported to have exclaimed, "O Solomon , I have outdone thee!" Hagia Sophia
28458-487: The tense relationship between the two countries, that was refused by both governments later in June. The railway to Baghdad ended up dominated by German and affiliated interests, with only limited participation by the BIO. The BIO participated in the construction of the railway from Constantinople to Salonica from 1892 to 1896 (the greater part of which later became the Thessaloniki–Alexandroupoli railway ), but with no large financial commitment as it correctly anticipated that
28644-507: The terms of reimbursement of the recent loans, without consulting the BIO, and later in 1875 the Ottoman authorities suspended the implementation of the February convention altogether. The Empire's security situation kept deteriorating with the April Uprising of 1876 in Bulgaria and the declaration of Serbian–Ottoman War in June 1876, as well as the successive depositions of Sultan Abdulaziz on 30 May 1876 and of his nephew and short-lived successor Murad V on 31 August 1876. In 1876 and 1877,
28830-420: The three head office locations of Galata, London and Paris: In April 1914, the BIO sold its Macedonian branches of Monastir/ Bitola and Üsküb/ Skopje to the Banque Franco-Serbe (BFS), established in 1910 and in which the BIO had an equity interest. Facing hostility from the Bulgarian government which had taken over Dedeagac , Gyumyurdjina and Xanthi , it had to liquidate all three branches. It also closed
29016-413: The throne in his absence; he surrendered to them and suffered death by torture, and the new ruler, Michael VII Ducas, refused to honour the treaty. In response, the Turks began to move into Anatolia in 1073. The collapse of the old defensive system meant that they met no opposition, and the empire's resources were distracted and squandered in a series of civil wars. Thousands of Turkoman tribesmen crossed
29202-410: The time Greek settlers from the city-state of Megara founded Byzantium ( Ancient Greek : Βυζάντιον , Byzántion ) in around 657 BC, across from the town of Chalcedon on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus. The origins of the name of Byzantion , more commonly known by the later Latin Byzantium , are not entirely clear, though some suggest it is of Thracian origin. The founding myth of
29388-419: The title clarus , not clarissimus , like those of Rome. It also lacked the panoply of other administrative offices regulating the food supply, police, statues, temples, sewers, aqueducts, or other public works. The new programme of building was carried out in great haste: columns, marbles, doors, and tiles were taken wholesale from the temples of the empire and moved to the new city. In similar fashion, many of
29574-427: The tradesmen of Constantinople were organised were supervised by the Eparch, who regulated such matters as production, prices, import, and export. Each guild had its own monopoly, and tradesmen might not belong to more than one. It is an impressive testament to the strength of tradition how little these arrangements had changed since the office, then known by the Latin version of its title, had been set up in 330 to mirror
29760-518: The two nations sent a joint mission to assess Ottoman finances, led by Alexandre de Plœuc [ fr ] for France and Augustus Edward Hobart-Hampden for the UK, who would later become respectively the first and second General Managers of the Imperial Ottoman Bank in Constantinople. In early 1856, Sultan Abdulmejid I called for modern banks to be created in the Empire to improve its financial system and foster economic development. Three main projects emerged in response, respectively promoted by
29946-411: The unguarded frontier and moved into Anatolia. By 1080, a huge area had been lost to the Empire, and the Turks were within striking distance of Constantinople. Under the Komnenian dynasty (1081–1185), Byzantium staged a remarkable recovery. In 1090–91, the nomadic Pechenegs reached the walls of Constantinople, where Emperor Alexius I with the aid of the Kipchaks annihilated their army. In response to
30132-401: The urban prefecture of Rome. In the 9th and 10th centuries, Constantinople had a population of between 500,000 and 800,000. In the 8th and 9th centuries, the iconoclast movement caused serious political unrest throughout the Empire. The emperor Leo III issued a decree in 726 against images, and ordered the destruction of a statue of Christ over one of the doors of the Chalke, an act that
30318-414: The view. During Justinian I's reign, the city's population reached about 500,000 people. However, the social fabric of Constantinople was also damaged by the onset of the Plague of Justinian between 541 and 542 AD. It killed perhaps 40% of the city's inhabitants. In the early 7th century, the Avars and later the Bulgars overwhelmed much of the Balkans , threatening Constantinople with attack from
30504-487: The wealthiest provinces of the Empire. Constantinople was built over six years, and consecrated on 11 May 330. Constantine divided the expanded city, like Rome, into 14 regions, and ornamented it with public works worthy of an imperial metropolis. Yet, at first, Constantine's new Rome did not have all the dignities of old Rome. It possessed a proconsul , rather than an urban prefect . It had no praetors , tribunes , or quaestors . Although it did have senators, they held
30690-488: The west. Simultaneously, the Persian Sassanids overwhelmed the Prefecture of the East and penetrated deep into Anatolia . Heraclius , son of the exarch of Africa, set sail for the city and assumed the throne. He found the military situation so dire that he is said to have contemplated withdrawing the imperial capital to Carthage, but relented after the people of Constantinople begged him to stay. The citizens lost their right to free grain in 618 when Heraclius realized that
30876-444: The works and in 1882 approached the BIO with the aim to exit the venture. After several years of negotiations, the BIO in 1885 led the formation of the Société de construction des lignes de raccordement des chemins de fer de Roumélie , which pledged to build railway lines to the respective borders of Bulgaria and Serbia. Eventually, Hirsch sold his concession in 1890 to a group formed by Deutsche Bank and Wiener Bankverein in which
31062-436: Was a generally loss-making proposition for the BIO and consequently fell well short of the convention's stated ambitions, with only three new locations opened in 1875 in Bursa , Edirne and Ruscuk plus a sub-office of the Beirut branch in Damascus . More generally, the implementation of the convention and of the BIO's new role quickly ran into practical difficulties and opposition from local government officials, compounded by
31248-408: Was a member of the Goldsmiths Company and had been involved with earlier banking partnerships; Richard Glyn had been a prominent London drysalter with widespread merchanting connections; and Thomas Hallifax was the son of a Barnsley clockmaker who had become chief clerk at Martins Bank . Unlike many of the private London banks that relied on wealthy and titled customers, Glyn, Mills was originally
31434-399: Was a revival in the mosaic art, for example: Mosaics became more realistic and vivid, with an increased emphasis on depicting three-dimensional forms. There was an increased demand for art, with more people having access to the necessary wealth to commission and pay for such work. On 25 July 1197, Constantinople was struck by a severe fire which burned the Latin Quarter and the area around
31620-432: Was also called 'Second Rome', 'Eastern Rome', and Roma Constantinopolitana ( Latin for 'Constantinopolitan Rome'). As the city became the sole remaining capital of the Roman Empire after the fall of the West, and its wealth, population, and influence grew, the city also came to have a multitude of nicknames. As the largest and wealthiest city in Europe during the 4th–13th centuries and a center of culture and education of
31806-426: Was built intentionally to rival Rome , and it was claimed that several elevations within its walls matched Rome's 'seven hills'. The impenetrable defenses enclosed magnificent palaces, domes, and towers, the result of prosperity Constantinople achieved as the gateway between two continents ( Europe and Asia ) and two seas (the Mediterranean and the Black Sea). Although besieged on numerous occasions by various armies,
31992-404: Was conditional on attracting an international set of investors including a group from the UK, which failed to materialized in April 1903 because of negative British public perceptions about participation in a German-led endeavor. Through negotiations in Berlin in June, the BIO and Deutsche Bank produced a revised concept that maintained the appearance of equality between France and Germany, but given
32178-426: Was eventually subsumed in 2001 into the Garanti Bank operations and corporate identity, in turn rebranded Garanti BBVA in 2019. During its heyday between 1863 and 1925 the bank was generally referred to using its French name, banque impériale ottomane (BIO), even in English-speaking contexts. This was because French was the international language of the era and especially prominent in the business community among
32364-429: Was famous for its massive and complex fortifications, which ranked among the most sophisticated defensive architectures of antiquity . The Theodosian Walls consisted of a double wall lying about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to the west of the first wall and a moat with palisades in front. Constantinople's location between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara reduced the land area that needed defensive walls. The city
32550-420: Was fiercely resisted by the citizens. Constantine V convoked a church council in 754 , which condemned the worship of images, after which many treasures were broken, burned, or painted over with depictions of trees, birds or animals: One source refers to the church of the Holy Virgin at Blachernae as having been transformed into a "fruit store and aviary". Following the death of her husband Leo IV in 780,
32736-401: Was financed by a special tax on all the subjects of the Empire. Theodora, widow of the Emperor Theophilus (died 842), acted as regent during the minority of her son Michael III , who was said to have been introduced to dissolute habits by her brother Bardas. When Michael assumed power in 856, he became known for excessive drunkenness, appeared in the hippodrome as a charioteer and burlesqued
32922-460: Was founded by the Roman emperor Constantine I (272–337) in 324 on the site of an already-existing city, Byzantium , which was settled in the early days of Greek colonial expansion , in around 657 BC, by colonists of the city-state of Megara . This is the first major settlement that would develop on the site of later Constantinople, but the first known settlements was that of Lygos , referred to in Pliny's Natural Histories. Apart from this, little
33108-427: Was founded in the 5th century and contained artistic and literary treasures before it was sacked in 1204 and 1453, including its vast Imperial Library which contained the remnants of the Library of Alexandria and had 100,000 volumes. The city was the home of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and guardian of Christendom 's holiest relics, such as the Crown of Thorns and the True Cross . Constantinople
33294-408: Was initially conceived by two businessmen, Peter Pasquali et Stephen Sleight, who had participated earlier in 1856 in the creation of the Bank of Egypt, the first Egyptian joint-stock bank. The project benefited from the support of such influential diplomats as George Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon and Stratford Canning, 1st Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe , in contrast to the Pereire initiative that
33480-431: Was located), Pontus and Asia comparable to the 100-mile extraordinary jurisdiction of the prefect of Rome. The emperor Valens , who hated the city and spent only one year there, nevertheless built the Palace of Hebdomon on the shore of the Propontis near the Golden Gate , probably for use when reviewing troops. All the emperors up to Zeno and Basiliscus were crowned and acclaimed at the Hebdomon. Theodosius I founded
33666-584: Was not much supported by French ambassador Édouard Thouvenel . As was customary at the time for an enterprise that would operate abroad, the British authorities sought approval from the Ottoman government, and once that was confirmed in April 1856, the bank was chartered on 24 May 1856 as an English entity with seat at 26, Old Broad Street in London. The group of financiers that supported it also included Thomas Charles Bruce , William Richard Drake, Pascoe Du Pré Grenfell, Lachlan Mackintosh Rate, and John Stewart. The Ottoman Bank then sought an issuance privilege from
33852-438: Was served by 600 people including 80 priests, and cost 20,000 pounds of gold to build. Justinian also had Anthemius and Isidore demolish and replace the original Church of the Holy Apostles and Hagia Irene built by Constantine with new churches under the same dedication. The Justinianic Church of the Holy Apostles was designed in the form of an equal-armed cross with five domes, and ornamented with beautiful mosaics. This church
34038-416: Was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe. The city became famous for its architectural masterpieces, such as Hagia Sophia , the cathedral of the Eastern Orthodox Church , which served as the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate ; the sacred Imperial Palace , where the emperors lived; the Hippodrome ; the Golden Gate of the Land Walls; and opulent aristocratic palaces. The University of Constantinople
34224-462: Was to preempt competition from new peers such as the Banque de Salonique in Macedonia. Unlike in the past, the new branches quickly generated profits, and the BIO's commercial banking operations became increasingly dominant in its overall activity. From the start of the Italo-Turkish War in September 1911, the Ottoman Empire entered a protracted period of near-continuous military engagements which put yet more strain on its finances. The BIO's role in
34410-427: Was to remain the burial place of the emperors from Constantine himself until the 11th century. When the city fell to the Turks in 1453, the church was demolished to make room for the tomb of Mehmet II the Conqueror. Justinian was also concerned with other aspects of the city's built environment, legislating against the abuse of laws prohibiting building within 100 ft (30 m) of the sea front, in order to protect
34596-434: Was unable to make good the rewards he had promised to his western allies. Tension between the citizens and the Latin soldiers increased. In January 1204, the protovestiarius Alexios Murzuphlos provoked a riot, it is presumed, to intimidate Alexios IV, but whose only result was the destruction of the great statue of Athena Promachos , the work of Phidias , which stood in the principal forum facing west. In February 1204,
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