When Banking was Civilised.

[El Presidente]

I have a wandering mind ...it is both a blessing and a curse 

 

I came across this cigar band yesterday and imagined a time when you would walk into the  local bank where the cute secretary would call the manager and announce, "Mr Ayala is here to see you sir". 

Manager Enrique Cardo dressed in his immaculately tailored grey suit leads you into his wood panelled office and offers you a rum or whisky before opening his humidor and inviting you to take one of his private banded figurados.  He takes one for himself.

"Now what can I do for you Mr Ayala"

so civilised 

 

naturally it would have been 1921, I would have wanted to invest in sugar right after the boom and lost everything 

 

for those interested in cuban banking history, read the PDF. It is a cracking paper. 

What blew me away was the numbers below. Look at the value of the Cuban sugar Crop in 1919-1920 

 

The skyrocketing rise in the price of sugar, in early 1920, brought about what was to be known as the "dance of millions." With the end of wartime controls in the U.S., the price of sugar rose from 7.28 cents a pound in November, 1919, to an all-time peak of 22.5 cents in May 1920. The Cuban sugar crop of 1919-1920 was sold for over US$1 billion, and brought more money than that provided by all other crops from 1900 to 1914. The "Sugar Mentality" that was to dominate Cuba's economic thought grew in strength. The sugar companies borrowed heavily to expand production and the banks were ready to accommodate them. When the European beet production recovered, the price of sugar dropped to 1.8 cents per pound in 1921. Many Cuban-owned sugar producers, heavily leveraged, went into bankruptcy and their interests were purchased by U.S. interests and by foreign banks. The Cuban-owned banks, which had provided substantial loans, backed by sugar, became insolvent. No specific banking regulations existed. Banks in Cuba were regulated by the provisions of the Commercial Code, totally "demode." The magnitude of the problem forced President Menocal

 

 

 

 

 

Cuban Banking SystemPre Revolution.pdf

[rcarlson]

Sounds like '08-'09 in the US housing/real estate market.  

[armada_crew]

If you are interested in this era of the US stock market, I recommend "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator" by Lefevre, an interesting account of a trader during this time period. I recall it had a few references to sugar commodity trading during the early 1920's.

[Ken Gargett]

6 hours ago, El Presidente said:

I have a wandering mind ...it is both a blessing and a curse 

 

most of us just call it dementia. 

[Fuzz]

16 hours ago, El Presidente said:

 

naturally it would have been 1921, I would have wanted to invest in sugar right after the boom and lost everything 

 

You know what they say...