The minor concessions

Banco Minero de la Candameña

A decree issued on 21 July 1879 gave José Gutiérrez approval from Angel Trias’ administration to establish a bank in the mining centre of Candameña and issue up to 500,000 pesos in twenty-five and fifty centavos and one peso notes, payable at the bank’s choice either in silver bullion or in silver pesos (en plata ensayada ó en pesos fuertes á elección del Banco)^{Periódico Oficial, 27 July 1879}. The historian Francisco Almada implied that this bank did in fact issue notes but none survive and Creel, in his reminiscences on Mexican banking, mentioned only the Banco de Chihuahua, Banco de Santa Eulalia, Banco Mexicano, Banco Minero and Banco de Hidalgo^{Enrique C. Creel, Los Bancos de México, 1920. Though El Norte, 5 July 1900, in listing banks of the earlier period, mentions the Banco de Batopilas}.

Banco Mercantil Mexicano

On 31 July 1882 José María Sánchez^{Born in Coahuila in 1850, Sánchez moved to Monterrey and became an employee of the business house of González Treviño y Compañía (This casa comercial was based in the Laguna with interests stretching to Monterrey and a large part of the state of Chihuahua. Towards the mid-1870s, these investors expanded their interests to the centre and east of the state, buying haciendas and ranches to round off their cotton emporium. At the same time, they established a branch of their commercial house in the state capital, from where they directed the development of their businesses. In the early 1880s, they had already partnered with Chihuahuan businessmen such as Ramón R. Luján and Félix Francisco Maceyra, with whom they shared their agricultural interests. Some time later they disappeared from the Chihuahuan scene, to continue themselves, their contemporary relatives and descendants, with the businesses in the Comarca Lagunera and Monterrey). When the brothers set up in Chihuahua in 1873 Sánchez moved with them though later he established his own business, selling clothes, groceries, glassware, crockery and spirits. When Terrazas took over the governorship in 1903, Sánchez became Treasurer General (Tesorero General) and later was substitute governor for Enrique Creel on various occasions. When the Maderista revolt broke out in 1910, President Díaz felt that it would be better if the governorship was in the hands of a Terrazas and Sánchez renounced in favour of Alberto Terrazas. He died in 1940.} (representing the shareholders José and Jesús González Treviño) and Félix Francisco Maceyra, representing the Banco Mercantil Mexicano, a bank recently established in Mexico City, were given permission to establish one or more branches and agencies of the bank within the state of Chihuahua. The branches' notes would be voluntarily accepted in all the state's offices, and by the public, for their face value in hard cash or with an 8% discount on the legal tender in use in the state (en pesos fuertes á la par ó con el 8 p% de cambio sobre la moneda legal que circule en el Estado)^{Periódico Oficial, 5 August 1882}. The bank was given six months in which to establish at least one branch: otherwise the concession would lapse.

The Banco Mercantil Mexicano did open offices in Guanajuato, Puebla, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí and Veracruz but does not seem to have reached Chihuahua. Soon after, in 1884, it merged with the Banco Nacional Mexicano to form the Banco Nacional de México. J. González Treviño Hermanos closed their casa comercial in Chihuahua in December 1883, to protests from Felix Francisco Maceyra and the Banco Mexicano ^{Periódico Oficial, 15 March 1884}.

In the second half of 1883 it was proposed to reform the federal constitution so that mining, commerce and banking became the exclusive preserve of the federal government. As such an amendment needed to be approved by the Chambers of Deputies, the Senate and a majority of the state legislatures, the authorities in Chihuahua were able to delay its passage (the amendment was promulgated by President Manuel González on 14 December 1883; Governor Terrazas endorsed it on 7 January 1884 and it was published in the Periódico Oficial on 15 March) and had time to add to the existing local concessions and grant new ones.

Hence a few concessions were rushed through whilst the constitutional reform was making its passage into law.

As such the concessions can be seen as taking out options or establishing negotiating positions and it is hardly surprising that nothing came of them. They are of more interest in determining the political and financial influence of the various concessionaires than in adding to the history of paper currency, though as the concessions related to the north-eastern area of Chihuahua they are evidence of the mining boom in that area.

By this time concessions had more detailed provisions about the ratio of notes in circulation to cash in hand, the guarantees required by the state and the time limit within which the bank had to start operating. Notes also had to carry the signature of the Administrador General de Rentas or a counterstamp showing that they had been registered in his office, where a record of the number of notes in circulation and their value was to be kept.

El Banco de Guerrero

On 16 November 1883 Francisco A. Sáenz was granted a concession to establish a bank in Ciudad Guerrero under the title ‘Banco de Guerrero’ and permitted to issue up to 100,000 pesos in notes of twenty-five centavos, fifty centavos and one peso, payable in Mexican pesos at par (en pesos del cuño mexicano a la par)^{Periódico Oficial, 15 December 1883}.

El Banco Protector Industrial Mexicano

On 20 November Anastasio Roybal was permitted to set up a bank, El Banco Protector Industrial Mexicano and authorised to issue 500,000 pesos in notes of 25c, 50c, $1 and $10 payable at par in Mexican pesos or, for values less than one peso, in copper coinage (á la par en pesos del cuño mexicano y los menores de un peso en moneda de vellón)^{Periódico Oficial, 24 November 1883}. Although the bank could establish itself and its branches in any part of the state, it had to establish one branch within the canton of Rayón, which was the mining area centred on Jesús María (now Ocampo).

El Banco Mercantil

On 6 December José Dolores Solís, and the firm of Rembez y Besaury y socios were given permission to establish El Banco Mercantil. The bank could issue up to a million pesos, in notes of 25c, 50c, $1, $5 and $10 payable in silver pesos or, for amounts of less than one peso, in copper (pagaderos al portador á la vista en pesos del cuño mexicano y los fracciones de un peso en moneda de vellón)^{Periódico Oficial, [ ]}.

The first Banco Comercial

Finally, on 19 December the state granted a concession (slightly modified on 8 January 1884) to establish the first Banco Comercial. Juan H. Turman and Juan N. Zubirán received permission to issue notes in twenty-five centavos, fifty centavos, one, two, five, ten and twenty pesos denominations up to a total of a million pesos again payable in Mexican pesos or, for the smallest values, in copper (a la par en pesos del cuño mexicano y los menores de un peso en moneda de vellón)^{Periódico Oficial, 23 December 1883}.

This first Banco Comercial was possibly used as a shell company when the Banco de Santa Eulalia was reorganised.