Early futile attempts to establish banks of issue
As independent Mexico developed its financial and commercial institutions there were several, ultimately unsuccessful, attempts to establish banks of issueThis section is only concerned with proposals to issue banknotes. For a understanding of the development of banking per se, see other sources, e.g. Leonor Ludlow and Carlos Marcihal (eds.), Banca y Poder en México (1800–1925), Mexico, 1985. These included:
Francisco de Garay
In 1842 Santa Anna gave General Francisco de Garay authorisation to establish a bank to help develop the north of the countryDiario del Gobierno de la República Mexicana, Tom. XXIV, Núm. 2685, 29 October 1842; El Siglo Diez y Nueve, Año II, Trim. 1, 5 November 1842. The bank was to have a capital of $1,000,000 and could issue up to $6,000,000, of which $2,000,000 would be in interest-bearing notes (billetes de banco, con interes de 6 por 100 anual) and $4,000,000 in simple banknotes (notas de banco, pagables al portador en el acto de su presentacion).
Manuel Escandón
On 20 April 1853 Manuel EscandónEscandón was possibly the richest businessman in Mexico at the time, being one of the main creditors of the government, a shareholder in mines, owner of haciendas and promotor of the country’s first railway (vide Margarita Urías, “Manuel Escandón: de las diligencias al ferrocarril. 1833-1862” in Ciro Cardoso (coord.), Formación y desarrollo de la burguesía, Mexico, 1978, pp25-56) presented Santa Anna with a proposal to establish a Banco Nacional with the object of administering the federal receipts. The bank’s capital would be eight million pesos, six in hard currency and two in notes. However, the government would not agree to entrust all the receipts to a private bankMemoria de Hacienda y Crédito Público, correspondiente al cuadragésimo quinto año económico presentada por el secretario de Hacienda al Congreso de la Unión el 16 de septiembre de 1870, pp. 406-408. However, this was not to be a bank of issue: the two million in banknotes was to be part of the bank's capital, not its issue.
Junta de Crédito Público
A Junta de Crédito Público was set up on 1 January 1856 by Ignacio Comonfort, under the presidency of Gregorio de Mier y Teránthe other members of the junta were Mariano Yañez, Francisco Iturbe, Bonifacio Gutiérrez, Marcelino Castañeda, Manuel Rozas, Mariano Riva Palacio, Octaviano Muñoz Ledo, José Joaquín de Rozas and Juan Goríbar (El Siglo Diez y Nueve, No. 2594, 13 February 1856 to administer the customs service and the amortization of the public debt. It was authorised to issue up to eight million pesos in bonds. On 30 April 1856 Comonfort authorised the Junta to establish a Banco de Circulación y Descuento with a capital of twenty million pesos but nothing came of the proposal.
An early Banco de México
On 29 July 1857 President Ignacio Comonfort authorised Liger de Libessart and associates to establish a bank. Its statutes provided for an issue of notes in nine denominations ($1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 and $1,000)Diario de Avisos, Año II, Tomo I, 2 September 1857.
Another Banco de México
On 30 January 1864 Maximilian’s Secretario de Hacienda y Crédito Público published a decree made at the Imperial Palace on 2 January that gave a concession to a group led by Michel Heinethe group also included the bankers Hottinger y Cía, Finlay Hodgson y Cia, Pillet Will y Cía., Mallet Hermanos y Cía., F. A. Seillière, and Marcuard André y Cía, all based in Europe to establish a Banco de México, with the functions to discount documents such as bills of exchange, issue and circulate paper money payable at sight and to the bearer (billetes pagaderos a la vista y al portador), receive deposits, and to place and negotiate loans and government securities, both in Mexico and abroadPeriódico Oficial del Imperio Mexicano, Tomo II, Nº 13, 30 January 1864.
The fate of this proposal and the bank's notes are discussed in Banknotes of Emperor Maximilian.
A Banco Nacional de Emisión e Hipotecatio
In November 1868 the deputy Peña y Ramírez proposed a Banco Nacional de Emisión e Hipotecario.