Nationale Handelsbank

Former Hong Kong branch c.1908

The Nationale Handelsbank was a Dutch bank that was established to financing trade between the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies. After operating independently for nearly a hundred years, the parts in Indonesia, were nationalized by the Indonesian government and the remainder was acquired by the Rotterdamsche Bank in 1960 and would be absorbed into AMRO Bank.^[1]

History

• 1863: The Nederlandsch-Indische Handelsbank was established in 1863 to finance and handle trade with the Netherlands East Indies (NEI). It had its head office in Amsterdam to which the branches outside the NEI reported. The branches in the NEI reported to the head office in Jakarta.
• 1901: The bank established a branch in Singapore. Until 1914, this was the main entrepot for the NEI. Smaller coastal vessels then shuttled back and forth between Singapore and ports in the NEI.
• 1906: The bank established a branch in Hong Kong. Before World War I Hong Kong was a major transshipment point for raw sugar from NEI on its way to British refineries.
• 1920: The bank established branches in Bombay, Calcutta, Shanghai, and Kobe, all based on the cotton trade to Japan.
• 1921-22: The bank established branches in Tokyo and Yokohama.
• 1922-23: The bank opened additional branches in China at Amoy and Swatou. The branch at Swatou only operated for a few years.
• 1924: The bank closed the Yokohama branch after the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake.
• 1938: The bank established a branch in Manila.
• 1948: The bank established a branch in Bangkok for the rice, tea and shellac trades. At around this time the branches in China closed after the defeat of Kuomintang government.
• 1950: The bank changed its name to Nationale Handelsbank. It closed the branch in Manila, which had enjoyed a brief boom after World War II but now was no longer promising.
• 1952: The branch in Kobe was still functioning but it closed sometime thereafter.

Nederlandsch-Indische Handelsbank branch in Semarang Indonesia between 1921 and 1926

• 1953: By this time the bank had branches throughout Indonesia in Java (Bandung, Banjuwangi*, Gambir (Weltevreden), Malang, Probolinggo, Semarang, Surabaya, Tegal*, and Cirebon*), Sumatra (Jambi, Medan, Palembang, Telok-Betung), Banjarmasin, Pontianak, and Makassar. The branches marked with * dealt with warehousing and shipping matters. Prior to the Japanese invasion in 1942, the bank had also maintained branches at Pasuruan, Cilacap, Pekalongan, Manado, Tanjong Balei, and Gorontalo.
• 1953: The bank established Mercantile Bank of Canada, with offices in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.^[2]
• 1959: The Indonesian government nationalized the bank’s local operations to create Bank Umum Negara.
• 1960: Rotterdamsche Bank acquired Nationale Handelsbank.
• 1962: Rotterdamsche Bank sold Nationale Handelsbank’s branches in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo to Chase Manhattan Bank.
• 1963: Nationale Handelsbank sold 50% of Mercantile Bank to Citibank.
• 1965: Nationale Handelsbank sold the remaining 50% of Mercantile Bank to Citibank, giving rise to the “Mercantile Bank Affair”. Nationale Handelsbank also changed its name to Nationale Bank voor Middellang Krediet (National Bank for Medium-Term Credit).
• 1967: Nationale Bank voor Middellang Krediet was absorbed into AMRO Bank which would become ABN AMRO.

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References