Jugoslavenska Banka () was a significant bank in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia during the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...

. It was founded in

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

in 1909 as the Croatian Landesbank ( hr, Hrvatska zemaljska banka, german: Kroatische Landesbank), and in 1920 relocated to Zagreb and changed its name to Jugoslavenska Banka. Again renamed Croatian Landesbank in 1941, it was liquidated in late 1945.

History

The creation of the Croatian Landesbank was sponsored in 1909 by Prague-based Živnostenská Banka, in line with its strategy of expansion into the Slavic-speaking lands of the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

, and took over the prior local business of Sorger, Weiszmayer & Cie whose eponymous partners became shareholders in the new privately held venture together with Živnostenská. In 1912, it acquired the Agrarian Savings Bank ( hu, Földmivelk Takarékpénztára Reazvénytársaság) in

Subotica Subotica ( sr-cyrl, Суботица, ; hu, Szabadka) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the North Bačka District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. Formerly the largest city of Vojvodina region, ...

. In May 1914, it took over the Zagreb-headquartered (). Meanwhile, it established branches in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

, Ljubljana, Ogulin (1912), Crikvenica, (1914),

Karlovac Karlovac () is a city in central Croatia. According to the 2011 census, its population was 55,705. Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County. The city is located on the Zagreb- Rijeka highway and railway line, south-west of Zagre ...

(1919), Novi Sad, Varaždin, and Vukovar (1920). In 1919, the bank was implicated in alleged smuggling of Austro-Hungarian krone banknotes printed in Hungary to arbitrage the favorable conditions for conversion to Yugoslav dinars offered by the National Bank of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. To preempt litigation, the bank initiated a restructuring that included its change of name, relocation (by which the former Zagreb branch became the head office, and the former head office in Osijek was turned into a branch), and severing of the prior government role in its governance, which was completed on . The move was masterminded by financier Dušan Plavšić, who became the bank's head and also took over the operations of another bank that was liquidated in 1923, the Zagreb-based Balkan Bank ( hr, Balkanska banka). By 1924, it had added branches in Novi Vinodolski,

, Slavonski Brod,

, and Sušak. The Jugoslavenska Banka suffered during the

European banking crisis of 1931 The European banking crisis of 1931 was a major episode of financial instability that peaked with the collapse of several major banks in Austria and Germany, including Creditanstalt on , Landesbank der Rheinprovinz on , and Danat-Bank on . It tri ...

, had to close branches, and in 1935 was restructured by Plavšić, by then an official at the finance ministry. On that occasion, the

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

branch of Živnostenská Banka participated in a capital injection and allowed the reopening of branches in

, Novi Sad,

, Ljubljana,

, Crikvenica, and Sušak. Its moratorium on most liabilities only ended in 1940. Following the

invasion of Yugoslavia The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, or ''Projekt 25'' was a German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was p ...

and proclamation of the Independent State of Croatia, Jugoslavenska Banka reverted to its original name of Croatian Landesbank by court order of , with 53 percent of its share capital taken over by

Dresdner Bank Dresdner Bank AG was a German bank and was based in Frankfurt. It was one of Germany's largest banking corporations and was acquired by competitor Commerzbank in May 2009. History 19th century The Dresdner Bank was established on 12 Novemb ...

, while Živnostenská Banka retained a minority stake of 25 percent. Following the war's end, the bank was liquidated in mid-November 1945 by the National Bank of Yugoslavia, together with the entire banking sector of Yugoslavia.

Notes

{{reflist Banks established in 1909 Defunct banks of Yugoslavia Defunct banks of Croatia

History

See also

Notes