Hidden in plain sight: Correspondent banking in the 1930s. Issue 8 (17th November 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Panza, Laura; Merrett, David
• Is Part Of: Business history. Volume 61:Issue 8(2019)
• Page Start: 1300
• Page End: 1325
• Publication Date: 2019-11-17
• Subjects: Correspondent banking -- interwar era -- instrumental Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood -- international financial centres -- multinational banks; Business -- Periodicals; Industries -- History -- Periodicals; Commerce -- History -- Periodicals; 330.09
• DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2017.1418858
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0007-6791

Abstract

Abstract: We present novel quantitative evidence on the number and location of correspondent banking relationships in the 1930s, a neglected area of international banking. Our data, collected from Thomas Skinners' Bankers' Almanac, captures over 2000 correspondent banking connections primarily based on London and New York and a smaller cohort of multinational banks. We draw on the new institutional economics and international business literature to explain the relative ubiquity of correspondent banking and the relative scarcity of multinational banks. Our argument that bilateral trade flows drive correspondent banking is tested empirically using an instrumental Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood estimation.