Volume 1, The Hongkong Bank in Late Imperial China 1864-1902: On an Even Keel (History ... Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation

Volume 2, The Hongkong Bank in the Period of Imperialism and War, 1895-1918: Wayfoong, the Focus of Wealth

Volume 3, The Hongkong Bank between the Wars and the Bank Interned, 1919-1945: Return ... the Bank Interned - Return from Grandeur v. 3

Volume 4, The Hongkong Bank in the Period of Development and Nationalism, 1941-1984: ... v. 4 (History of Hong Kong and Shanghai)

This third volume of a four-volume history of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation covers a period of great difficulty for an Eastern exchange bank. There was a return from 'grandeur' - from multi-national financial negotiations, from imposing building programs, from schemes of monetary and administrative reform. The sudden rise and dramatic fall of silver, increasingly effective Asian nationalism, and the impact of the Great Depression and Japanese aggression in the 1930s all forced the Bank to focus on survival. Nevertheless, the Bank never neglected its public role in Hong Kong and the other Asian territories it served. Then during the Nanking Decade (1928–1937) and after the Bank was once again able to assist the Republic of China. The Hongkong Bank's ability to redefine its role and continue a constructive policy in the East are the main themes of this volume. Strong management, a loyal staff, and an ability to undertake sometimes painful adjustments are the key elements analyzed. During the Pacific War virtually all the Bank's branches in the East were overrun and the Bankers interned. But Head Office was reestablished in London, providing continuity with the post–1945 years. The History is based primarily on the Bank's Shanghai and London archives and on varied public and private papers. The result is a major contribution to an understanding of the financial history underlying complex economic and political developments.

This final volume of the history of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation provides a full-scale study of a modern financial institution in the context of its historical role in the East. The author discusses the Bank's return to the East in 1945, the ending of the compradoric system, the Bank's varying relationship with the People's Republic of China, and its role in the financing of Hong Kong's industrialization. He then presents an analysis of the Bank's adjustment to a new world of international banking. The dramatic stories of key acquisitions - Mercantile Bank of India, The British Bank of the Middle East, Hang Seng Bank, and Marine Midland Banks of New York - are recounted on the basis of both documentary evidence and interviews with the principal participants. A central theme is the radical structural change necessary as the Hongkong Bank sought successfully to become first an interregional bank and, subsequently, both an operating bank and a multinational financial holding company. Granted full access to the Bank's most recent archives, the author considers the problems of product diversification, the management of consequent subsidiary companies, changes in recruitment strategy and staff policy, and the impact of technical change. While fully utilising the Bank's own records, the author has also considered materials from national archives, newly discovered private collections, and oral histories gathered world-wide. With the publication of this four-volume history a serious void in our knowledge of Far Eastern economic history has now been filled.