THE CUBA REVIEW' 



15 



CUBA'S BANKING INSTITUTIONS 



NATIONAL BANK S NEW PRESIDENT 



The American Minister, Mr. Arthur M. 

 Beaupre, Congressman Martin W. Little- 

 ton, of New York, Dr. Orestes Ferrara, 

 speaker of the Cuban House, and man_v 

 others, were speakers at the farewell ban- 

 quet given on February ISth, under the 

 auspices of the American Club, to Mr. Ed- 

 mund Gustave \'aughan, the retiring Presi- 

 dent of the Xational Bank of Cuba. The 

 speakers paid high tribute to the distin- 

 guished guest of the evening, who is held 

 strongly in the affections of the American 

 colony in Havana and Spanish and Cuban 

 residents. 



The banquet was held in tlie main dining 

 room of the beautiful Miramar at the foot 

 of the Prado. 



^Ir. \'aughan assumed the presidency of 

 the Xational Bank of Cuba in 1904. That 

 institution's deposits then were $6,000,000 

 and their loans amounted solely to $2,500,- 

 000. He leaves the bank with deposits in- 

 creased to $27,000,000, while $18,000,000 are 

 out in loans. The cash movement in the 

 bank last year averaged $3,959,000 per bank- 

 ing day. 



"The bank is more of a Cuban institution 

 now than it has ever been," said Mr. 

 Vaughan recently. "Instead of the stock 

 being held abroad by foreign banks it is 

 rapidly getting into the hands of the people 

 of this country, where it should be." 



Mr. Vaughan will tour the world and aft- 

 erwards take up business life again in New 

 York. He will also retain an active inter- 

 est in the aflfairs of the bank. 



Mr. William A. Merchant, for many 

 years \'ice President of the institution, was 

 elected President of the National Bank of 

 Cuba on February 19th, to take the place 

 of Mr. Edmund G. Vaughan. 



The election was carried out with four- 

 fifths of all the shareholders in the bank- 

 ing institution represented, 40,000 of the 

 50,000 shares voting. Dr. Jose Lopez Rod- 

 riguez was elected Vice President to suc- 

 ceed to the vacancy caused by the promo- 

 tion of Mr. Merchant. Two other impor- 

 tant changes were the election to the board 

 of directors of Dr. Vidal Morales and Sr. 

 Angel Barrios. 



Mr. Merchant was born in Alexandria, 

 Va., in 1862. He is a graduate of St. 

 John's Military Academy of that city. He 

 began his business career as a telegraph 

 operator on a railroad. He was soon pro- 

 moted to the general offices of the company 

 and passed eight years as a member of 

 the executive staff. 



From the railroad Mr. Mfrchant went 

 to R. G. Dun and was its manager for fif 

 t»-<-n vfnrs. In Infer vcars lie was the com 



William A. Merchant, President National Bank 

 of Cuba. 



pany's general manager for the West In- 

 dies. He resigned this position eight years 

 ago to accept the vice presidency of the 

 bank. 



The Royal Bank of Canada has secured 

 a prominent location in Sagua la Grande, 

 Santa Clara province, on the corner of 

 Marti and Calixto Garcia streets on which 

 to erect a new building for a branch office. 



'I'lic new home of the Trust Company of Cuba, 



on ()hiK|)o .Strcf(, Havana. Opcnivl for husiness on 



K.hin.Hv 2.Sth last. 



