National Bank of Turkey

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The National Bank of Turkey (NBT) was a Turkish commercial bank started in 1909. Its major owners were Sir Ernest Cassel, Lord Revelstoke, and Sir Alexander Henderson. The bank grew out of the political changes of the Young Turk era and operated until 1931.

Before NBT there were two earlier efforts with the same name, known as Banque Nationale de Turquie. The first, in 1853, was promoted by Ariste Jacques Trouvé-Chauvel but never carried out. The second, in 1873, was granted a privilege by Sultan Abdulaziz and discussed in 1872; it published a statute in Paris in 1874 and had its seat in Constantinople, with Mahmoud Ben Ayed as chairman for five years, but it did not become a significant enterprise.

In the early 1900s, European finance was active in the Ottoman Empire. The French dominated financial activity through the Imperial Ottoman Bank, while Britain sought a stronger position. This helped lead to the creation of NBT, with Cassel and later Henderson and Revelstoke involved. The British Foreign Office monitored the project but encouraged cooperation with French finance when possible. The Turks had initiated the bank themselves with help from Cassel.

The Young Turks asked Boghos Nubar Pasha and Calouste Gulbenkian to form NBT. There is evidence of a 1908 letter mentioning an NBT prospectus. Oil and mineral interests also played a role: Deutsche Bank, the Anatolian Railway Company, William D’Arcy’s oil claims, and Royal Dutch Shell had activities in the region.

In 1908–1909, after the Young Turk revolution, plans were reset. In 1912 Gulbenkian helped establish the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC), in which NBT owned 50% (including 15% nonvoting for Gulbenkian), Royal Dutch Shell 25%, and Deutsche Bank 25%. On March 19, 1914, a British-German agreement transferred NBT’s TPC interest to Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC).

In 1918–1919, NBT was acquired by the British Trade Corporation (BTC), an investment bank formed to support the war effort. BTC later merged in 1926–1927 with the Anglo-Austrian Bank to form the Anglo-International Bank. The remaining part of NBT was wound up in 1931.