Available:*
Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 30000003165952 | HG3270.2.A8 H57 1986 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
Searching... | 30000003165994 | HG3270.2.A8 H57 1987 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
On Order
Summary
Summary
This is the first of two volumes of a business history of a major British bank in the Middle East. Volume 1 traces the history of the bank from its foundation in 1889 as The Imperial Bank of Persia, through the years it was the state bank of Iran, and its development of modern banking in that country, to the ending of its links in 1952. The Bank's history has great importance for an understanding of the economic and political history of Iran in the first half of the twentieth century, and of Britain's diplomatic and economic relations with Iran, and provides evidence challenging many accepted viewpoints. The Bank played a vital role in the region, and in the 'Great Game' between Britain and Russia. During the inter-war years its history was enmeshed with the Pahlavi dynasty and the rise of Iranian nationalism. The book will be invaluable to business and other historians as one of the first scholarly histories of a British overseas bank. Banking and Oil, Volume 2 of The Hist
Reviews 2
Choice Review
The Imperial Bank of Persia was founded in 1889 on the basis of a concession granted to form a state bank for the Persian Empire. It was to remain the state bank until 1928. The bank continued in business in Iran until 30 June 1952, and by that time it was well enough established elsewhere in the Middle East that it continued as the British Bank of the Middle East. Since 1960 it has been part of the Hong Kong Bank Group. In this first volume of a two-volume history sponsored by the company, Jones (London School of Economics) concentrates on the Bank's three generations in Iran. Supplementing the Bank's own archives with oral histories, British government archives, private papers, and the usual secondary sources, he has not only written a fascinating, first-class piece of business history but also, given the Bank's frequent involvement in British policy in the area, an important contribution to the modern political and economic history of Iran, including Britain's relations with Iran. Despite occasional surprising omissions, such as the sale of gold in Iran as an anti-inflationary device during WW II, the book is strongly recommended for any upper-level undergraduate or graduate library.-D.E. Moggridge, University of Toronto
Choice Review
In his previous volume, Banking and Empire in Iran: The History of the British Bank of the Middle East, v.1 (CH, Jun '87), Jones (London School of Economics) concentrated on the bank's career in Iran until its withdrawal in June 1982. This volume traces the rise of the bank's activities elsewhere in the Persian Gulf in the 1940s, which gave it the base to continue its activities after 1952, and carries the story forward from the bank's and other archives until 1965, although archival sources continue to inform his later account of certain activities. The book concludes with a summary of subsequent events and an evaluation of the bank's performance over nearly a century. Inevitably, the fortunes of the bank in the Arab world since 1940 have been tied up with oil and politics. As the bank pioneered banking in much of the Gulf, its history provides a fascinating supplement to the history of the economic transformation of the area. However, it is also a first-class piece of business and financial history in the relatively unexplored corner of British overseas banking. College and university collections.-D.E. Moggridge, University of Toronto
