This new bank was promoted and aided under the new Bank Law and
was established in the country from June 13, 1908, under a social
period of time of twenty years with the financial support of the
banking house of Bennet, Rojas and Fernandez and the union of
capital and talent of several foreigners and a majority of Costa
Ricans. Among the foreign partners it relied on: don Jaime Gorden
Bennet Record (English); don Edwin Milton Donaldson Vaught
(American); Dr. Antonio Guistiniani Casabianca (French); don
Jeronimo Pages Elias, don Joaquin Llinas Dotres and don Miguel
Hermogenes Rodriguez Carriazo (Colombian). Among the Costa Ricans
the following stood out: don Adrian Collado Quiros; don Fabian
Esquivel Flores; Lic. Alfredo Gonzalez Flores; Lic. Ricardo Jimenez
Oreamuno; Lic. Bernardo Soto Alfaro; don Cecil Vernor Lindo Morales,
etc. There was a total of 50 founding partners.
Its first directors' meeting was formed in the following way; don
Fabian Esquivel Flores (President); William Le Lacheur Lyon, don
Adrian Collado Quiros (Secretary); and Jaime Carranza Aguilar. The
Administrator of the bank was Jaime Rojas Bennet and as cashier Juan
Fernandez Morua.
The bank's first issues appeared in June, 1910 in the values of
c.5, c.10, c.20, c.50, and c.100 (colones) in series "A"; for series
"B" only a minimum quantity of c.20 and c.50 were issued. The last
issues of this bank were in April 1917. All of its formulas were
prepared in the American Bank Note plant in New York.
In spite of the fact that the bank stopped issuing banknotes in
1917, these same notes circulated until 1922 when the government
prohibited the issues of private banks. The bank continued all of
their additional operations on the right track without forgetting
that it was in charge from September, 1916 of backing the banknotes
of the recently closed Commercial Bank.
In 1917 and 1918 the majority of the shares of the Mercantile
Bank of Costa Rica passed to the "Mercantile Bank of America", a
consortium of international banks. Because of economic problems,
this consortium sold the shares to another foreign bank, the Royal
Bank of Canada. This banking house established its branch in San
Jose from 1915 - 1937. Their offices were from 1919 in an old
building (land that the Galerias Plaza de la Cultura now occupies).
Then these offices moved to the Juan Knohr Hijos building (now known
as the Kenor Building) 25 meters west of the Lehmann Bookstore.
Jose A. Carraza A., Billetes de Costa
Rica
