The Financial History of the Bank for International Settlements

摘要

Kazuhiko Yago, one of the most 'Europeanised' Japanese scholars, benefited from a grant (Suntory Foundation) which helped him delve into the archives of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) (organised by Piet Clement) and of a few central banks. His book does not compete with Gianni Toniolo's overall history commissioned by the BIS (Central Bank Cooperation at the Bank for International Settlements, 1930-1973, Cambridge University Press, 2005, 600 pp.) or with the papers delivered by either Toniolo or Clement. Nevertheless, it makes a contribution to the construction of the history of the BIS and to that of the cooperation between central banks, in Europe and across the Atlantic, and its bibliography, collected in the endnotes, serves as a toolkit in its own right. In contrast with Toniolo's intent to 'commemorate' the BIS history through a wide-reaching book, Yago focuses on two main topics: first, its financial history and, second, far larger, going beyond the narrow title of the book, the reconstitution of the balance of power and of the inner life of the 'institution', through its meetings and committees. Yago succeeded in mobilising archives, memoires and the press to help us gain access to the almost day-to-day field of expertise and decision-making at the BIS, either in Basel or in other places where managers, experts, ministers and central bankers meet. Beyond mere 'financial history', therefore, we have at our disposal the very life of a financial institution, an original one in comparison with business banking history, because it centres around an internationalised structure and modus operandi.