The Banque de Madagascar, from 1946 the Banque de Madagascar et des Comores, was a bank established by the French government in 1925 to issue currency and provide credit in French Madagascar. As such, it fulfilled many of the functions of a central bank for the colony. [1]
Following the establishment of the Malagasy Protectorate, France took over direct administration of Madagascar as a colony in 1897. The Comptoir national d'escompte de Paris established a presence on the island in the late 19th century, and had advocated the creation of a local issuance bank as early as 1895. [2] Until World War I, its only form of currency was coins of French francs. Franc banknotes were introduced during the war in substitution to the coin money, but did not satisfy the needs of Madagascar's colonial economy that would be better served by local money issuance. Parliamentary debates lingered in France for several years, as different models were considered including direct issuance by the French state, or the granting of an issuance privilege to a private-sector bank as had been done elsewhere with the Banque de l'Indochine in 1875 and the Banque de l'Afrique Occidentale in 1901. [3]
Legislation was eventually adopted on 22 December 1925 that created the Banque de Madagascar as a specialized issuance bank that would in practice be operated by the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas (BPPB), with which the French Finance Ministry and the colonial government of Madagascar had respectively signed agreements to that effect on 1 July 1925. [4] The bank's initial capital was held by the government of French Madagascar (20 percent), the BPPB (15 percent), the Comptoir national d'escompte de Paris (10 percent), various colonial economic interests in Madagascar (35 percent), and the inhabitants of Madagascar (20 percent) through a public subscription that was successfully conducted in March 1926. [5] The French state had the power to name the bank's chairman and three other members of its board of directors. [6] The governance adopted for the Banque de Madagascar represented a more hands-on approach of the French government than in previous comparable episodes. [1] It served as a model for subsequent revisions of the issuance privilege, first of the Bank of West Africa and later of the Banque de l'Indochine. [2]
The bank issued banknotes in Malagasy franc (French : franc malgache), which was pegged at par to the French franc. Initially, French coins continued to circulate (Malagasy franc coins were first produced in 1943). The bank had to pay a levy to the French government for the issuance monopoly, which in 1927 was nearly 2 million francs. The government also held special shares that gave it a privileged claim over the bank's income. From May to December 1926, the bank opened seven branches, first in Tananarive (now Antananarivo) and then in Tamatave (now Toamasina), Diégo-Suarez (now Antsiranana), Majunga (now Mahajanga), Nossi-Bé (now Nosy Be), Fianarantsoa, and Mananjary. Another branch opened in 1927 in Tuléar (now Toliara). [7]
The bank's shares were listed on the Paris Bourse on 27 September 1928. [8] In 1928, another branch opened in Manakara, [9] and yet another one in Fort-Dauphin on 15 December 1929. [10]
In Paris, the bank's headquarters was initially established at 134 Boulevard Haussmann. On 1 April 1929 it relocated to a former mansion at 88 rue de Courcelles. [11] That building was demolished in the second half of the 20th century. The bank also had an office in Marseille, at 26 avenue du Prado. [12]
When the Comoro Islands became a separate French territory in 1946, the name of the issuing bank was changed to Banque de Madagascar et des Comores. A branch office opened in Comoros in 1953. While the banknotes were changed to reflect the new status of Comoros, the coins were not changed and bore only the name Madagascar.
The Madagascar-Comores CFA franc (XMCF) replaced the franc of Madagascar on December 26, 1945, with the creation of the other CFA francs. The CFA franc was worth 1.7 French francs until 1948 when a devaluation of the French currency increased the rate to 1 CFA franc = 2 French francs. When the new French franc was introduced in 1960, the rate became 1 CFA franc = 0.02 French francs.
In 1950, the French government took over majority ownership of the Banque de Madagascar et des Comores. On 1 January 1960, the French franc was revalued, with 100 old francs becoming 1 new franc. (Décret n°59-1450 du 22 décembre 1959) The new exchange rate was 1 Madagascar-Comores CFA franc = 0.02 French francs (50 Madagascar-Comores CFA francs = 1 French franc).
On 26 June 1960, Madagascar gained independence from France, and the Institut d'Émission Malgache ("Madagascan Institute of [money] Issuance"), headquartered in Antananarivo, was created to issue currency only for Madagascar. Madagascar left the CFA zone effective 1 July 1973. In 1974, the Institut d'Émission Malgache became the Central Bank of Madagascar.
In the Comoros, the bank lost its issuance monopoly in 1963. [13] The Institut d'Émission des Comores was established in 1974, and became the Central Bank of the Comoros in 1981.
In 1977, the Banque de Madagascar et des Comores merged with the Banque immobilière de Crédit-Soficam to form the Compagnie générale de banque Soficam. [13]
The successive individuals were the bank's chairman and chief executive (Président-Directeur Général): [13]
  | This bank and insurance-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
The CFA franc, or Franc of the Financial Community of Africa, is the name of two currencies, the West African CFA franc, used in eight West African countries, and the Central African CFA franc, used in six Central African countries. Although separate, the two CFA franc currencies have always been at parity and are effectively interchangeable. The ISO currency codes are XAF for the Central African CFA franc and XOF for the West African CFA franc.
The economy of the Comoros is based on subsistence agriculture and fishing. Comoros has inadequate transportation links, a young and rapidly increasing population, and few natural resources. The low educational level of the labor force contributes to a subsistence level of economic activity, high unemployment, and a heavy dependence on foreign grants and technical assistance. The Comoros, with an estimated gross domestic product (GDP) per capita income of about $700, is among the world's poorest and least developed nations. Although the quality of the land differs from island to island, most of the widespread lava-encrusted soil formations are unsuited to agriculture. As a result, most of the inhabitants make their living from subsistence agriculture and fishing. Average wages in 2007 hover around $3–4 per day.
The ariary is the currency of Madagascar. It is notionally subdivided into 5 iraimbilanja and is one of only two non-decimal currencies currently circulating. The names ariary and iraimbilanja derive from the pre-colonial currency, with ariary being the name for a silver dollar. Iraimbilanja means literally "one iron weight" and was the name of an old coin worth 1⁄5 of an ariary. However, as of May 2023, the unit is effectively obsolete since the iraimbilanja has practically no purchasing power, and the coins have fallen into disuse.
The Banque de l'Indochine, originally Banque de l'Indo-Chine, was a bank created in 1875 in Paris to finance French colonial development in Asia. As a bank of issue in Indochina until 1952, with many features of a central bank, it played a major role in the financial history of French Indochina, French India, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, and Djibouti, as well as French-backed ventures in China and Siam. After World War II, it lost its issuance privilege but reinvented itself as an investment bank in France, and developed new ventures in other countries, such as Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
The franc was the currency of Madagascar until 1 January 2005. It was subdivided into 100 centimes. In Malagasy the corresponding term for the franc is iraimbilanja, and five Malagasy francs is called ariary.
The franc is the official currency of Comoros. It is nominally subdivided into 100 centimes, although no centime denominations have ever been issued.
The franc was the currency of the Anglo-French Condominium of the Pacific island group of the New Hebrides. It circulated alongside British and later Australian currency. The New Hebrides franc was nominally divided into 100 Centimes, although the smallest denomination was the 1 franc. Between 1945 and 1969, it was part of the CFP franc.
The Banque de l'Afrique Occidentale was a French bank established in 1901 to issue currency for the colonies of French West Africa.
The Banque Industrielle de Chine was a French bank with its main activities in China and French Indochina. It was created in 1913, expanded rapidly, but closed in 1921 because of the political context in China, causing a political controversy in France. Its activity was continued by the Franco-Chinese Bank, in China until the 1950s and in Indochina until the 1970s.
The Central African CFA franc is the currency of six independent states in Central Africa: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. These six countries had a combined population of 55.2 million in 2020, and a combined GDP of over US$100 billion.
The West African CFA franc is the currency used by eight independent states in West Africa which make up the West African Economic and Monetary Union : Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. These eight countries had a combined population of 105.7 million people in 2014, and a combined GDP of US$128.6 billion as of 2018.
The Central Bank of Madagascar is the central bank of Madagascar.
The Central Bank of the Comros is the central bank of the Comoros, a group of islands in the Indian Ocean.
The franc was the currency of Réunion until 1999. Before 1975, Réunion had its own franc, distinct from that of France. After 1975, the French franc circulated. Réunion now uses the euro. The Réunion franc was subdivided into 100 centimes.
The franc is the currency of New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna, part of the CFP franc since 1945 and issued by the Institut d'émission d'outre-mer (IEOM) in Paris. It is subdivided into 100 centimes, although centime denominations are no longer in circulation.
The franc is the currency of French Polynesia, part of the CFP franc since 1945 and issued by the Institut d'émission d'outre-mer (IEOM) in Paris. It is subdivided into 100 centimes, although centime denominations are no longer in circulation.
This is an overview of the postage stamps and postal history of the Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, one of the Comoros Archipelago islands located on the south-east side of Africa.
The Franco-Chinese Bank, in French Banque Franco-Chinoise (BFC), full name Banque Franco-Chinoise pour le Commerce et l’Industrie, was a French bank with operations in China and French Indochina, and later in the Indian Ocean and the French West Indies. In 1925 it succeeded the Société française de gérance de la Banque industrielle de Chine, an asset management company that had been formed in October 1922 following the closure of the Banque Industrielle de Chine.
The Banque de l'Algérie, from 1949 to 1958 Banque de l'Algérie et de la Tunisie, was a French bank created in 1851, that operated as the central bank for French Algeria and, from 1904, also for the French protectorate of Tunisia until Tunisian independence. Following Algerian independence in 1962, it was succeeded by the new state's Bank of Algeria, and its French operations were wound up in 1963.
In the French-speaking world, an Institut d'Émission refers to a bank of issue or a currency board.
