Baština (Jan 2018)
Export bank A.D. Skoplje
Abstract
In terms of economy, Skoplje was very important in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes/Yugoslavia for the southeastern part of the country. For these reasons, a lot of big private banks as well as state banks had their branch offices in this city, and several significant monetary institutions appeared. One of them was Export Bank A.D. Skoplje, founded in 1921. Soon after its foundation and in cooperation with the Central Bank of Leskovac and Electric Society of Leskovac, Export Bank paid for the rights to maintain and use the water supply system and electric power plants in Skoplje. In order to provide the necessary amount of electric energy, the managing board of the bank, in cooperation with the above mentioned institutions and the Municipality of Tetovo, put into action the electric power plant in Tetovo in 1926 and connected it with Skoplje using a 45 kilometre long power line. Export Bank A.D. Skoplje carried out other operations not related to banking such as purchase, parcellation and selling of a significant area of land, as well as buying and storing opium in its warehouse. Although these represented the main activities of the bank, the classic bank operations such as discount bill service were not neglected. The successful work of Export Bank A. D. Skoplje is reflected in a stable dividend which was, except in the first year when it was distributed, constantly 10 %. Agricultural and banking crisis, which took place in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the autumn of 1931, affected the work of all monetary institutions in the country, including Export Bank A.D. Skoplje. The bank suffered certain losses due to the moratorium on payment of agricultural debts, whereas the impossibility to carry out regular banking operations was compensated by investing into real estates. That was the business atmosphere in which Export Bank A.D. Skoplje saw the outbreak of the Second World War in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
