Debates, Plans and Interventions to Overcome the 1931 Banking Crisis in Romania and Bulgaria

Abstract

Abstract In the summer of 1931, the Austro-German banking crisis spread to Romania and Bulgaria. In the Romanian case, the management of the crisis confronted three types of protagonists – politicians, bankers and central bankers – and positions about the relevant attitude to adopt, in particular to avoid or not the Marmorosch Blank Bank bankruptcy. In Bulgaria, the management of the crisis was more consensual. The intervention of the Bulgarian National Bank allowed the refunding of the more important banks, while a further 34 were declared bankrupt and smaller ones silently disappeared. One of the largest banks in Bulgaria, Credit Bank, was rescued. Archive documents, reports of participants and comments from contemporaries, all emphasize the different conceptions of the function of lender of last resort as held by the different protagonists facing this systemic crisis.