El Banco de Nuevo León
On 5 August 1891 the Secretario de Hacienda agreed a contract with Francisco Olivares and Manuel Peniche, representing a group of local investorsthe most prominent were Evaristo Madero who contributed $260,000, Marcelino Garza ($50,000), General Gerónimo Treviño ($30,000), Rómulo Larralde ($25,000) and Viviano L. Villarreal ($24,000), to establish a bank of issue in Monterrey with a capital of $600,000 and the right to set up branches in Nuevo León, Coahuila and Tamaulipas. The bank began operations on 1 October 1892 at 17 calle del Comercio (today Morelos).
As a consequence of the Ley General de Instituciones de Crédito of 1897 the bank entered into a new concession, which was approved by Congress on 22 November 1897.
The bank paid very good dividends to its shareholders: 12% in 1897 and 15% each year from 1899 through to 1911, with one exception, 14% in 1905.
The bank was finally liquidated in 1930.
American Bank Note Company print runs
Antonio V. Hernández was commissioned by the board to contact the American Bank Note Company regarding the printing of notes The board determined to issue notes of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100 and $500, up to the stipulated maximum of $1,800,000, though in fact the $2 note was never produced. Hernández left for New York on 30 April 1892 and returned on 11 June.
The American Bank Note Company engraved special vignettes of Ignacio Zaragoza (C 193), the arms of Monterrey (C 477), a view of Monterrey (C476) and of a river and mountain (the Santa Catarina river and Cerro de la Silla) (C 475).
Date | Value | Number | Series | from | to |
June 1892 | $1 | 50,000 | 00001 | 50000 | |
$5 | 20,000 | 00001 | 20000 | ||
$10 | 20,000 | 00001 | 20000 | ||
$20 | 10,000 | 00001 | 10000 | ||
$50 | 3,000 | 00001 | 3000 | ||
$100 | 1,500 | 0001 | 1500 | ||
$500 | 100 | 1 | 100 |
Date | Value | Number | Series | from | to |
March 1894 | $5 | 20,000 | 20001 | 40000 | |
$10 | 10,000 | 20001 | 30000 | ||
$20 | 5,000 | 10001 | 15000 | ||
$50 | 4,000 | 3001 | 7000 | ||
$100 | 2,500 | 1501 | 4000 | ||
$500 | 300 | 101 | 400 |
For the next printing the title "El Cajero" was changed to "El Gerente".
Date | Value | Number | Series | from | to |
May 1899 | $5 | 80,000 | 40001 | 120000 | |
$10 | 30,000 | 30001 | 60000 | ||
$20 | 10,000 | 15001 | 25000 | ||
$50 | 2,000 | 7001 | 9000 | ||
$100 | 2,000 | 4001 | 6000 | ||
$500 | 600 | 401 | 1000 |
For the next printing the dateline "Monterrey ______18__" was changed to "Monterrey ______19__" .
Date | Value | Number | Series | from | to |
December 1902 | $5 | 120,000 | 120001 | 240000 | |
$10 | 60,000 | 60001 | 120000 | ||
$20 | 20,000 | 25001 | 45000 | ||
$50 | 4,000 | 9001 | 13000 | ||
$100 | 2,000 | 6001 | 8000 |
Date | Value | Number | Series | from | to |
November 1909 | $5 | 64,000 | 240001 | 304000 | |
$10 | 24,000 | 120001 | 144000 | ||
$20 | 7,500 | 45001 | 52500 | ||
$50 | 6,000 | 13001 | 19000 | ||
$100 | 3,200 | 8001 | 11200 | ||
$500 | 340 | 1001 | 1340 |
Date | Value | Number | Series | from | to |
September 1912 | $5 | 64,000 | 304001 | 368000 | |
$10 | 24,000 | 144001 | 168000 | ||
$20 | 7,500 | 52501 | 60000 | ||
$50 | 6,000 | 19001 | 25000 | ||
$100 | 3,200 | 11201 | 14400 | ||
$500 | 340 | 1341 | 1680 |
When Huerta allowed banks to issue $1 and $2 notes the Banco de Nuevo León, since it had received $1 notes from the ABNC in the past, ordered a new batch,wth "El Cajero' altered to "El Gerente" and the dateline changed to 19__.
Date | Value | Number | Series | from | to |
December 1913 | $1 | 50,000 | 50001 | 100000 |
The bank orderedthe bank later claimed that it had only asked for a quotation, but that the ABNC made a mistake and printed the notes (ABNC, letter to Charles Blackmore, Resident Agent, Mexico City, 3 April 1916) another 50,000 $1 notes in May 1914 but these were never delivered and destroyed in October 1924.
Date | Value | Number | Series | from | to |
May 1914 | $1 | 50,000 | 100001 | 150000 |
Signatories
Interventor
Benigno Guerrero Guerrero was appointed Interventor on 18 August 1892. |
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M. Otero | ![]() |
Luis G. Camacho was appointed interventor on 28 August 1898CEHM, Fondo CDLIV Colección José Y. Limantour, 1a. 1883, carpeta 9, legajo 2359. | ![]() |
Juan J. Farías | ![]() |
Jeronimo Treviño Galindo | ![]() |
Javier Larrea | ![]() |
Presidente
He was born in San Nicolás Hidalgo, Nuevo León on 2 December 1838, the son of a powerful landowner. After studying law he served as a judge and a deputy in the local congress. He was then Secretario General during the governorship of Jerónimo Treviño and became governor himself on 4 October 1879, taking over from Genaro Garza García, and handing it over to Garza García on 4 October 1881. Thirty years later, at the beginning of the Revolution, Villarreal, who was a supporter of Madero, was chosen governor for 1911 to 1915 but resigned after Madero’s assassination. He died in Monterrey on 24 September 1938, at the age of 100. He was the brother of Felicitos Villarreal, secretary of the treasury under the Convention, in 1914-1915. |
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Constantino de Tárnava | ![]() |
Francisco Armendariz | ![]() |
Evaristo Madero | |
Marcelino Garza was a businessman from Saltillo who controlled the Compañía Industrial Saltillera, associated with Evaristo Madero’s Compañía Industrial de Parras in the Compañia Industrial del Norte, S. A. | ![]() |
Cajero
Andres Martinez Cardenas | ![]() |
Amador Paz Paz took over from Pedro Olvera at the beginning of August 1896The Two Republics, 8 August 1896: Semana Mercantil, 10 August 1896: Diario del Hogar, 11 August 1896 |
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Gerente
Madero was from the powerful, regional Madero family He was born in Parras, Coahuila on 12 October 1872, the son of Evaristo Madero and uncle of the future president, Franciso I. Madero. He was a businessman and large landowner and served as Secretario de Hacienda from 26 May 1911 until 18 February 1913. After the decena trágica he fled to the United States. He died in Mexico City on 2 February 1958. |
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Rodolfo J. García took over as managing director on 9 July 1908 but resigned in January 1911, supposedly for reasons of health. In fact he had learnt that Enrique Martínez Sobral, Jefe del Departamento de Crédito y Comercio of the local Secretaría de Hacienda, was going to take over the bank’s management, though on learning of the intrigue Sobral declined the invitation. However, Javier Larrea, the Interventor, then took over. Larrea was forced to resign as manager on 22 May 1911, following the fall of Porfirio Díaz, and García took over but resigned on 2 October 1911 when he assumed the office of Primero Magistrato Municipal. | ![]() |
Rodolfo M. Garza | ![]() |
Marcelino Garza see in Presidente above |
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Other personages
Antonio V. Hernández was the bank’s first manager. He left the bank on 31 August 1899 after certain disagreements and went to work for the Banco Mercantil de Monterrey. |