From the history of the activity of the State Nobility land bank in 1885-1917 (based on materials of Ryazan province)

The article focuses on the peculiarities of the activities of the Ryazan branch of the State Nobility Land Bank at the end of the XIX -beginning of the XX centuries. It is the long-term lending institution, that gave loans secured by real estate and received funds through the issuance of bonds or mortgages. The purpose of the bank was to assist in the restoration of the leading place of the nobility in the economic and political life of Russia. Attention is drawn to the mechanism of the institution's functioning: loans were issued only to the hereditary nobles on the security of landed property for a period of 36 years 7 months and 48 years 8 months, rate of 60% or 75% of the score under 5 % - 6 %% per year. In the article it is proved that, despite the nature of the estates and numerous benefits to borrowers, the Nobility bank functioned on a commercial basis providing itself a steady income. The focus is on the volume of mortgage operations and mortgage debt of the borrowers. The author notes that the tendency of fluctuations of mortgage operations in Ryazan province coincided with the nationwide tendency. It is shown that the following factors mainly influenced this process: changes in the interest rates on deposits and mortgage rates sheets, socio-political events, agronomic component. It is observed that the operations of the Nobility bank reached the greatest development in the early period of its activity. In Ryazan province the Nobility bank had been the main state mortgage lending institution up to the Stolypin agrarian reform of 1906. The paper analyzes the reasons for the accumulation of loan debts, with the main among them being irrational economic management practiced by the nobility, the using of outdated forms of peasant labor, unproductive waste of credit. Attention is drawn to government's numerous concessions to the nobility in the form of lower loan interest rates and benefits of payments in installments. One of the main actions of this kind was the release of «the Noble premium loan» in 1889. The preferential measures are underlined, which resulted in the reluctance to pay for loans. The article concludes that the role of the Nobility State land bank in the conservation of landlordism in Ryazan province was essential. The institution provided the province with the cheap credit. Landowners were encumbered by mortgage debts and ready to sell their estates at low prices, managed to retain them. On the whole, it prevented the destruction of the land fund and the general declassing of the nobility.

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