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Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij, 1824-1964

Into banking, 1874-1945

At this time the company had not yet developed into a bank in the present sense. But the advent of a less protectionist policy on the East Indies and the gradual abolition of the Plantation System forced the bank to turn its attention towards banking. The ban on trading in bills and securities was lifted in 1874 and “De Factorij” embarked in 1882 on business such as credits, time deposits and securities orders. NTS Director Balthazar Heldring, who later became President, played an important role in this change of policy.

The issue of banknotes was another activity NTS was involved in during its rich history. Faced with the precarious financial and economic situation in Shanghai where it had opened a branch in 1903, and with the absence of a Chinese central bank, NTS put “Shanghai dollars” into circulation which remained legal tender until 1946. Similarly, its subsidiary Surinaamsche Bank issued banknotes in the former Dutch colony of Surinam until 1957.

The sugar crisis in the East Indies in the late 1920s and early 1930s forced NTS to change its policy in the Netherlands. For many years the bank’s only establishments in the Netherlands had been its head office in Amsterdam and a branch in Rotterdam. The numerous branches in the Dutch East Indies and the Far East had been the bank’s cornerstones.

The branch network in the Netherlands was not significantly expanded until 1936 when NTS took over Geldersche Credietvereeniging, with which an alliance had existed since 1916.

Head office Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij, Herengracht 466, Amsterdam, c. 1910.

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Karel van Aalst, managing director and president of Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij from 1902 to 1934

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