BANK OF PROKUPLJE

Abstract

A feature of banking in the Kingdom of Serbia was a large number of small local financial institutions. Otherwise, a large number of banks was dastically increased during the Customs war due to the need for capital that was needed for the import of goods. In that period Bank of Prokuplje was created as one of the discount banks. Until the WWI, Bank of Prokuplje operated stabily and brought dividends to its shareholders. Like other financial institutions, Bank of Prokuplje suffered considerable material damage during the occupation in the Great War, and the chairman of the Board od Directors, Đorđe Brzaković, was killed. Bank of Prokuplje resumed its work only in 1922 and successfully operated until the outbreak of the banking crisis in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1931. The bank was stable even in the fourth decade of the 20th century, although its working capital was reduced by the withdrawal of savings deposits. Bank of Prokuplje is one of the few in the south of Serbia that worked during the WWII and even recorded a certain profit in 1943. With the liberation of Prokuplje, the Bank was unable to operate because its premises were usurped by the new authorities for their own needs. In accordance with the ideology of the socialist social sistem, Bank of Prokuplje was not sllowed to continue its work and it was liquidated in 1946.