Banque Commerciale pour l’Europe du Nord (, BCEN) or Banque Commerciale pour l'Europe du Nord – Eurobank (BCEN-Eurobank) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

-controlled bank in Paris,The piratization of Russia: Russian reform goes awry. Marshall I. Goldman. founded in 1921 by wealthy Russian emigres and supported by the

Council of People's Commissars The Council of People's Commissars (CPC) (), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (), were the highest executive (government), executive authorities of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), the Soviet Union (USSR), and the Sovi ...

(SovNarKom) () through

Leonid Krasin Leonid Borisovich Krasin (; – 24 November 1926) was a Russians, Russian Soviet Union, Soviet politician, engineer, social entrepreneur, Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet diplomat. In 1924 he became the first List of ambassadors of Russia to ...

who, in 1925, sold their stakes to the Soviet Union. It maintained correspondent accounts with Western banks to secure lines of credit for facilitating Soviet imports into that country in which the correspondent account is located. Also, these correspondent accounts performed foreign currency exchange for the Kremlin.

History

During the 1920s and 1930s, Soviet and numerous foreign sources referred to this bank as the Aero Bank () or Airbank in Paris () and not the Aero-Bank SA which was a branch of the German bank ''Aerobank'', which was known as the Bank der Deutschen Luftfahrt AG (BDL), and established in Paris by Nazi Germany during its occupation. The

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

used the bank to manage Spain's gold reserves during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. After the fall of the Soviet Union, many persons involved with BCEN-Eurobank became leaders in Russian economy, banking, and finance. The 1993 established Moscow bank " Evrofinance" was a subsidiary of Eurobank. During the 1990s, BCEN – Eurobank was involved in the looting of Russia. In 2005,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

's Vneshtorgbank became the major shareholder. Later, Vneshtorgbank changed its name to

VTB Bank VTB Bank (; formerly known as ''Vneshtorgbank'', , lit. 'International Trade Bank') is a Russian majority state-owned bank headquartered in various federal districts of Russia; its legal address is registered as St. Petersburg. As of 2022, ...

, and BCEN-EUROBANK name was changed to VTB Bank (France) SA.

Operations

Eurobank participated in foreign currency exchange and

Eurocurrency Eurocurrency is currency held on deposit outside its home market, i.e., held in banks located outside of the country which issues the currency. For example, a deposit of US dollars held in a bank in London, would be considered eurocurrency, as the ...

markets and was a leader in

Eurodollar Eurodollars are U.S. dollars held in time deposit accounts in banks outside the United States. The term was originally applied to U.S. dollar accounts held in banks situated in Europe, but it expanded over the years to cover US dollar accounts ...

lending. In December 1973, Eurobank and Credit Lyonnais formed the ''Societe pour la Promotion Europeenne du Leasing'' (Promolease) based in Paris to promote and finance leasing operations for Soviet heavy construction equipment, Soviet snowplows, Soviet machine tools, Soviet

Lada LadaAccording to various sources, the name Lada is derived from a Russian word for Viking longships (). (, , marketed as LADAFrom 2004 onwards Lada is marketed worldwide, including in Russia, using the all-capitals brand name written in Latin sc ...

vehicles, and Czechoslovakian

Škoda Auto Škoda Auto Akciová společnost, a.s. (), often shortened to Škoda, is a Czech automobile manufacturer established in 1925 as the successor to Laurin & Klement and headquartered in Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic. Škoda Works became State ow ...

vehicles. The Soviet Union supplied funds through Eurobank to the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

(PCF). The bank had its offices at 77, 79, and 81, boulevard Haussmann in Paris.

Other associated banks

VTB has the western subsidiaries of the

Central Bank of Russia The Central Bank of the Russian Federation (), commonly known as the Bank of Russia (), also called the Central Bank of Russia (CBR), is the central bank of the Russia, Russian Federation. The bank was established on 13 July 1990. It traces its ...

and, before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the daughters of the

Gosbank The State Bank of the USSR (), known as the State Bank of the RSFSR from 1921 to 1923, and commonly referred to as Gosbank (), was the central bank and main component of the single-tier banking system of the Soviet Union. It replaced the State Ban ...

which were the Banque commerciale pour l'Europe du Nord or BCEN-Eurobank in Paris, Moscow Narodny Bank in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, Ost-West Handelsbank in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, Donau Bank in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, and

East-West United Bank East-West United Bank () is a bank based in Luxembourg, established on 12 June 1974 by the Gosbank, the Soviet Union's central bank. It has been fully owned by Russia-based Sistema since 2018. The bank offered private banking and corporate financ ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

. Eurobank was associated with Eurogrefi (Paris), RTD France (Paris), Evrofinance (Moscow) and others.Alternate archive
an

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Key people

* Thomas Alibegov, Director General (1982–1987) * Yury Ponomaryov, CEO, chairman of the Board of Directors (1988–1998)

Notes

References