Госбанк СССР: Центральный банк Советского Союза

Central and only bank of the Soviet Union

Gosbank (Госбанк, Государственный банк СССР, Gosudarstvenny bank SSSR—the State Bank of the USSR) was the central bank of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1991 within the country's single tier banking system. After an extended gap in 1920–1921, it took over the legacy of the State Bank of the Russian Empire. It was eventually terminated on following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and its operations were taken over by the central banks of the successor countries, including the Central Bank of Russia, National Bank of Ukraine, National Bank of Kazakhstan, and others. Gosbank was one of the three Soviet economic authorities, the other two being Gosplan (the State Planning Committee) and Gossnab (the State Committee for Material Technical Supply). The Gosbank closely collaborated with the Soviet Ministry of Finance to prepare the national state budget.

The foundation of the bank was part of the implementation of the New Economic Policy. On 3 October 1921, the All Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK), passed a resolution for the founding of the State Bank of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. This was followed by a similar resolution passed by Sovnarkom on 10 October 1921. It began operations on 16 November 1921. In February 1922 Lenin described the State Bank as "a bureaucratic paper game", comparing it to a Potemkin village in a letter to Aron Sheinman whom he accused of "Communist mandarin childishness". In 1923 it was transformed into the State Bank of the USSR. It was placed under the jurisdiction of Narkomfin. The Soviet state used Gosbank, primarily, as a tool to impose centralized control upon industry in general, using bank balances and transaction histories to monitor the activity of individual concerns and their compliance with five year plans and directives. Gosbank did not act as a commercial bank in regard to the profit motive. It acted, theoretically, as an instrument of government policy. Instead of independently and impartially assessing the creditworthiness of the borrower, Gosbank would provide loan funds to favored individuals, groups and industries as directed by the central government. In 1931 Boris Berlatsky, a senior official of the State Bank was put on trial for wrecking as part of the 1931 Menshevik Trial.

Beginning in 1921 in Paris and prior to his death, Leonid Krasin created the first state controlled Soviet overseas bank. It was one of five "daughter" ("дочек") banks or "motherland bins" or "bins of the motherland" (Закрома Родины) which were established in Paris (1921) as the Commercial Bank for Northern Europe BCEN Eurobank, in London as part of the Moscow Narodny Bank, in Vienna (1974) as the Donau Bank AG, in Frankfurt am Main as the Ost West Handelsbank (OWH), and in Luxembourg (1974) as the East West United Bank. In order to financially assist Communist Parties, anti imperialism, and pro national liberation movements worldwide, these banks acted as subsidiaries or "daughters" to the "mother" bank or Gosbank, which was the central bank of Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russia) from 1921 to 1922 and the Soviet Union from 1923 to 1991. In 1992 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Paris based subsidiary bank BCEN Eurobank had bad loans with Cuba, Morocco, and Mauritania and received a "silver plater" infusion of capital from Gosbank through a "participatory credit" (партисипационный кредит) of $1080.2 billion in various currencies.

As part of Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika program, other banks were formed, including; "Promstroybank" (USSR Bank of Industrial Construction), "Zhilstoybank" (USSR Bank of Residential Construction), "Agrobank" (USSR Agricultural Bank), "Vneshekonombank" (USSR Internal Trade Bank), and "Sberbank" (USSR Savings Bank). "Sberbank" continues to this day as one of Russia's largest banks, retaining senior ex Gosbank personnel and most of the present Russian government's banking business.

This is the list of the chairmen of the Board of the State Bank. The chairman was appointed by the Premier of the Soviet Union. No. Name (governor)PhotoTerm of officeAppointed byStart of termEnd of term1Aron Sheinman19211924Vladimir Lenin2Nikolai TumanovMarch 5, 1924January 16, 1926Alexei Rykov3Georgy PyatakovApril 19, 1929 October 18, 19304Moissei KalmanovichOctober 18, 1930April 4, 1934Vyacheslav Molotov5Lev Maryasin April 4, 1934July 14, 19366Solomon Kruglikov July 14, 1936 September 15, 19377Alexey Grichmanov September 15, 1937July 16, 1938 8Nikolai Bulganin October 2, 1938April 17, 19409Nikolai K. Sokolov April 17, 1940October 12, 194010N. Bulganin October 12, 1940May 23, 1945Joseph Stalin11Yakov Golev May 23, 1945March 23, 194812Vasily Popov March 23, 1948March 31, 195813N. Bulganin March 31, 1958August 15, 1958Nikita Khrushchev 14Alexander Korovushkin August 15, 1958August 14, 196315Alexey Poskonov 1963196916Miefodiy Svieshnikov 19691976Alexei Kosygin 17Vladimir Alkhimov October 11, 1976January 10, 198618Viktor Dementsev January 10, 1986 August 22, 1987Nikolai Ryzhkov 19Nikolai Garetovsky August 22, 1987June 7, 1989 20Viktor Gerashchenko June 7, 1989 August 26, 1991Valentin Pavlov21Andrei Zverev August 26, 1991 December 20, 1991Ivan Silayev