THE CUBA REVIEW 



29 



Cuban Financial Matters 



Cuban Banking and Finance 



The Banco Gomez Mena has been pur- 

 chased outright by the Royal Bank of 

 Canada, according to an announcement 

 made recently. The transfer is to be ef- 

 fective April 30, 1923, and is to include 

 the bank building and the entire banking 

 business of the Cuban firm. From present 

 indications it appears likely that the liqui- 

 dation of four of the banks now in the 

 hands of the liquidation commission will 

 be completed in the course of the next 

 month, and it seems probable that the 

 creditors will realize practically nothing. 

 The four banks are: Banco Federal, Cien- 

 fuegos, suspended March 1, 1921; Pro- 

 pietarios Industriales y Arrendatarios, Ha- 

 bana, suspended June 14, 1921; Victor E. 

 Escartin, S. en C, Moron, suspended July 

 18, 1921; and Francisco Diaz Vega, Ciego 

 de Avila, suspended May 30, 1921. The 

 prospects for the creditors of the Banco 

 Nacional, on the other hand, have im- 

 proved greatly and it is possible that this 

 bank may later be reorganized and re- 

 opened. 



Operations of Debt Commission 



Claims reaching a total of approxi- 

 mately $45,000,000 have been filed with 

 the Cuban Debts Commission, but only 

 departmental obligations due prior to July 

 1, 1922, amounting to a total of $3,362,000, 

 have been approved by the commission to 

 date. Of the $50,000,000 foreign loan re- 

 cently negotiated in the United States, the 

 portion of the proceeds which is allotted 

 for the payment of this indebtedness 

 amounts to but $17,000,000. No payments 

 have yet been made on these approved 

 claims, but legislation before the Cuban 

 Congress provides for the immediate liqui- 

 dation of 50 per cent of the approved 

 claims. 



The Debts Commission was created by a 

 law published in the Gaceta Oficial, Sep- 

 tember 15, 1922, to examine and deter- 

 mine the claims outstanding against the 

 Cuban Government. The law provides 

 that all claims must be presented to the 

 commission before April 15, 1923, and that 

 claims not presented prior to that date will 

 have to be made to the courts. The Cuban 



Congress is considering a measure for e.x- 

 tending this period. 



Expenditure of Appropriations 



Unsettled political conditions, particu- 

 larly with regard to the cabinet personnel, 

 have delayed arrangements for the expen- 

 diture of the $6,000,000 made available 

 from the proceeds of the loan for recon- 

 struction, maintenance, and continuation 

 of public works. Payment orders have al- 

 ready been issued for practically the entire 

 $9,000,000 appropriated for wages, salaries, 

 pensions, etc., and for the bulk of the 

 $3,000,000 fund destined to ser\'ice on 

 interior loans. 



Chinese Branch Bank of Habana 



Within a period of a few months, rep- 

 resentatives of two separate Chinese bank- 

 ing institutions have visited Habana to de- 

 termine the needs for a local branch cater- 

 ing to Chinese interests. These banking 

 institutions are the Industrial and Com- 

 mercial Bank (Ltd.), of Hongkong, and 

 the Chinese Merchants' Bank of the same 

 city. 



The representative of the latter bank 

 reports that a branch of the Chinese Mer- 

 chants' Bank will be established in Habana 

 within two or three months. Plans are 

 under way for the carrying out of the 

 necessary legal formalities. This bank, 

 whose capital is stated to be $5,000,000 

 in currency and $2,500,000 in gold, has an 

 agency in New York. The owners of the 

 bank are reported to be heavily interested 

 in rice, and it is expected that the Habana 

 branch will devote itself to financing ship- 

 ments to Cuba of Chinese rice, silks, em- 

 broidery, chinaware, and other oriental 

 products. 



At the present time the financing of im- 

 portation of Chinese goods to Cuba is 

 carried on through the leading Habana 

 banks, none of which is Chinese. A few 

 local Chinese merchants receive money de- 

 posits from the members of the Chinese 

 colony, but no institution carrying on a 

 general banking business caters to this 

 trade. — Assistant Trade Commissioner 

 C. A. Livengood, Habana, Cuba. 



