Abstract

The importance of banking houses in Russia gradually declined with the increase of joint-stock banks, complication of economic relations and fnancial transactions. Tese houses, which previously played a signifcant role in the economic life of the country, found it increasingly difcult to compete with joint-stock banks with more solid capital, broad government support, close ties with many foreign banks, extensive branch network in diferent cities of the country. Te banking houses were voluntarily or involuntarily closed, acquired by joint-stock banks or incorporated, while some of them, mostly small ones, whose activities were ofen speculative, went bankrupt. Using the example of the banking house “G. Wawelberg”, this article examines the process of transformation of banking institutions into joint-stock commercial banks, which started in Russia since the early 1910s. Two independent joint-stock institutions were created on the basis of its ofces in Petersburg and Warsaw, the Petersburg Trade Bank (1912) and the Western Bank in Warsaw (1913). Te latter became one of the largest banks in the Kingdom of Poland before the First World War. At the same time, “Ryabushinsky Brothers” were incorporated as the Moscow Bank, and “I.V. Juncker and Co” as the Commercial Bank “I.V. Juncker and Co” (Moscow Industrial Bank). Te development of other banking institutions followed the same direction. Te Western Bank is of particular interest for research due to the fact that, having emerged during the period when the Kingdom of Poland was part of the Russian Empire, it maintained its position afer Poland gained independence in 1918, despite the deep economic crises experienced by the Polish Republic in the mid-1920s and early 1930s. Te Western Bank operated in Warsaw until 1949.