Bank of Java

{{Short description|Bank in Netherlands East Indies and Indonesia}} [[File:Jakarta Indonesia Museum-Bank-Indonesia-02.jpg|300px|thumb|Former head office of the Bank of Java in Batavia, now Bank Indonesia Museum in Jakarta]]

The '''Bank of Java''' ({{langx|nl|De Javasche Bank N.V.}}, abbreviated as '''DJB''') was a note-issuing bank in the Dutch East Indies, founded in 1828, and nationalized in 1951 by the government of Indonesia to become the newly independent country’s central bank, later renamed Bank Indonesia. For more than a century, the Bank of Java was the central institution of the Dutch East Indies’ financial system, alongside the “big three” commercial banks (the Netherlands Trading Society, the Nederlandsch-Indische Handelsbank, and the Nederlandsch-Indische Escompto Maatschappij).<ref name=Shibata>{{citation |title=The monetary policy in the Netherlands East Indies under the Japanese administration |author=Shibata Yoshimasa |journal=Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde |volume=152 |date=1996 |issue=4 |pages=699–724 |publisher=Brill |doi=10.1163/22134379-90003959 |jstor=27864801 |doi-access=free }}</ref>{{rp|703}} It was both a note-issuing bank and a commercial bank.

==Background== The first bank founded in the Indonesian archipelago was the {{lang|de|Bank van Courant}}, established in 1746, to support trading activity. In 1752, it was renamed {{lang|de|De Bank van Courant en Bank Van Leening}} ({{lit|Bank of current [accounts] and loans}}), and was given a mandate to extend loans to employees of the Dutch East India Company. In 1818, that institution closed as a consequence of financial crisis.<ref name=BIH>{{cite web |website=Bank Indonesia |title=History of Bank Indonesia |url=https://www.bi.go.id/en/tentang-bi/sejarah-bi/default.aspx }}</ref>

==Dutch colonial period== King William I of the Netherlands granted the right to create a private bank in the Indies in 1826, which was named {{lang|nl|De Javasche Bank}}. It was founded on {{date|1828/01/24}}, and later became the bank of issue of the Dutch East Indies, issuing and regulating the Netherlands Indies gulden.

In 1829, it opened branch offices in Semarang and Surabaya. Later branch offices opened in Padang (1864), Makassar (1864), Cirebon (1866), Solo (1867), Pasuruan (1867), Yogyakarta (1879), Pontianak (1906), Bengkalis (1907), Medan (1907), Banjarmasin (1907), Tanjungbalai (1908), Tanjungpura (1908), Bandung (1909), Palembang (1909), Manado (1910), Malang (1916), Kutaraja / Banda Aceh (1918), Kediri (1923), Pematang Siantar (1923), and Madiun (1928).<ref name=BIH/>

Until 1891, the DJB was represented in the mainland Netherlands by the Netherlands Trading Society. That year, it opened an office in Amsterdam, which in 1922 was converted into a subsidiary known as {{lang|nl|Bijbank Javasche Bank}} or {{lang|nl|Javasche Bank Nederland}}.<ref name=AGH/> Some time later, DJB opened an office in New York.<ref name=Teeuwen/>

Under the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies during World War II, the occupation authorities closed the Bank of Java and all other Dutch and Western banks in March 1942, and endeavored to seize as much as possible of their assets.{{R|Shibata|p=706}} They replaced it with an ''ad hoc'' central bank for occupied Indonesia, named {{ill|Nanpo Kaihatsu Ginko|jp|南方開発金庫}} ({{langx|ja|南方開発金庫}}, {{lit|Southern Development Bank}}). The Bank of Java could only reopen after the surrender of Japan in the late summer of 1945.

==Nationalization and aftermath== The Bank of Java was nationalized by the Sukarno government in 1951, and renamed Bank Indonesia on {{date|1953/07/01}}. By that time, Europeans still represented four-fifths of the Bank's employees.<ref>{{citation |author=J. Thomas Lindblad |date=2004 |title=Van Javasche Bank naar Bank Indonesia : Voorbeeld uit de praktijk van indonesianisasi |journal=TSEG: The Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=28–46 |doi=10.18352/tseg.791 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

In 1962, Bank Indonesia moved to a new head office building. Its former main building on Station Square in Jakarta was left to deteriorate. It was renovated in the 2000s, and repurposed as Bank Indonesia Museum, which opened on {{date|2009/07/21}}.

In 1966, the bank's affiliate in Amsterdam became the {{ill|Indonesian Overseas Bank|nl}}, later renamed the Indover Bank. It was eventually liquidated in 2008.<ref name=AGH/>

==Leadership==

Presidents of the Bank of Java have included: * Chr. de Haan (1828–1838) * C.J. Smulders (1838–1851) * {{ill|Emanuel Francis|nl}} (1851–1863) * {{ill|Carel Wiggers van Kerchem|nl}} (1863–1868) * J.W.C. Diepenheim (1868–1870) * {{ill|Fokko Alting Mees|nl}} (1870–1873) * {{ill|Norbertus van den Berg|nl}} (1873–1889) * {{ill|Sako Zeverijn|nl}} (1889–1893) * D. Groeneveld (1893–1898) * J. Reijsenbach (1899–1906) * Gerard Vissering (1906–1912) * {{ill|Ede Zeilinga|nl}} (1912–1924) * {{ill|Leonardus Trip|nl}} (1924–1929) * {{ill|Gerard van Buttingha Wichers|nl}} (1929–1945) * J.C. van Waveren (1946) * R.E. Smits (1946–1949) * Andre Houwink (1949–1951) * Sjafruddin Prawiranegara (1951–1953)

==Buildings== Shortly after its founding, the Java Bank moved into a vacant hospital in Batavia's lower city. In 1913, a new building was added, designed by Amsterdam architect Eduard Cuypers. <ref>{{aut|Norbruis, Obbe}} (2020): “Landmarks from a bygone era, Life and work of Ed. Cuypers & Hulswit-Fermont 1897-1927” Volendam, LM Publishers, {{ISBN|9789460220128}} pp. 160-165</ref> In 1924, the last hospital buildings were replaced by new ones designed by Eduard Cuypers, whose architecture echoed his earlier design. <ref>{{aut|Norbruis, Obbe}} (2020): “Landmarks from a bygone era, Life and work of Ed. Cuypers & Hulswit-Fermont 1897-1927” Volendam, LM Publishers, {{ISBN|9789460220128}} pp. 268-271</ref> Cuypers' successors, the Fermont-Cuypers firm, extended in 1936 the 1913 building forward and added a new façade, around the main entrance <ref>{{aut|Norbruis, Obbe}} (2020): “Architecture from the Indonesian Past, Life and work of Fermont-Cuypers 1927-1957” Volendam, LM Publishers, {{ISBN|9789460220159}} pp. 210-215 </ref> The current extensive complex houses now the Museum Bank Indonesia on Station Square.<ref name=Teeuwen>{{cite web |website=Indonesia, Dutch Colonial Heritage |author=Dirk Teeuwen |url=http://www.indonesia-dutchcolonialheritage.nl/jakhistoricalsites/Hosp.pdf |title=Javasche Bank, the Old Dutch City Hospital of Batavia-Jakarta and the Mandiri Bank Museum }}</ref> The head offices of the three large banks were built on adjacent lots in the 1920s and 1930s, namely the Nederlandsch-Indische Escompto Maatschappij to the north, the Netherlands Trading Society to the south, and the Nederlandsch-Indische Handelsbank to the northeast. Between 1908 and 1927, a new bank building was built in cities as Banjarmasin, Bandung, Cirebon, Yogyakarta, Banda Aceh, Makassar, Malang, Medan, Manado, Padang, Palembang, Pematang Siantar, Semarang, Surabaya, Surakarta. These buildings were also designed by Eduard Cuypers, who collaborated with M.J. Hulswit (1862-1921) and A.A. Fermont (1882-1967) in Batavia. <ref>{{aut|Norbruis, Obbe}} (2020): “Landmarks from a bygone era, Life and work of Ed. Cuypers & Hulswit-Fermont 1897-1927” Volendam, LM Publishers, {{ISBN|9789460220128}} pp. 120-129, 150-153, 196-199. 204-205, 208-213, 222-223, 236=237, 244-245, 254-255, 260-261, 276-279. </ref> After the death of Eduard Cuypers, a few more buildings of the Javasche Bank were built, designed by the Fermont-Cuypers office, namely in; Pontianak, Kediri and Semarang.<ref>{{aut|Norbruis, Obbe}} (2020): “Architecture from the Indonesian Past, Life and work of Fermont-Cuypers 1927-1957” Volendam, LM Publishers, {{ISBN|9789460220159}} pp. 92-93, 100-101, 200-203. </ref>

The Amsterdam office was opened in 1891, at 60 Reguliersdwarsstraat, in a suite of offices hosted by the Hollandsche Hypotheekbank. It moved to Keizersgracht 668 in April 1892. In 1920, DJB expanded to the nearby building at Keizersgracht 664, and in 1937–1939, the bank erected a new office building on numbers 664-666, designed in 1936 by the architecture firm of {{ill|Christiaan Posthumus Meyjes jr.|nl}} and Jakob van der Linden. The successor entity, Indover Bank, remained there until 1992, when it moved to Stadhouderskade.<ref name=AGH>{{cite web |website=Amsterdams Grachten Huizen |title=Indover Bank |url=https://amsterdamsegrachtenhuizen.info/bedrijf/bedr-ijk/indover/ }}</ref>

<gallery> File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Kantoor van de Javasche Bank in Batavia TMnr 60047649.jpg|Head office in Batavia, before remodeling in 1936 File:2016 De Javasche Bank.jpg|Interior hall of the branch in Surabaya (2016) File:Bank Indonesia Museum inner court.jpg|Inner court in Jakarta (2018) File:Bank Indonesia Museum stained-glass window.jpg|Stained glass window (2018) File:Keizersgracht 666-668, kantoorgebouw "De Javasche Bank" (1937-39).jpg|Keizersgracht 666-668, former office of the Bank of Java in Amsterdam File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Kantoor van de Javasche Bank in Bandoeng TMnr 60016843.jpg|Branch office in Bandung, built in 1918; now a museum File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Het gemeentehuis en het kantoor van de Javasche Bank TMnr 10015457.jpg|Branch office in Medan File:Bank Indonesia in Medan.jpg|The same building, now Town Hall and Bank Indonesia branch File:Bank Indonesia Solo 2009 Bennylin 13.jpg|Branch office in Surakarta File:Bank_Indonesia_Building,_Yogyakarta_(2025)_-_img_03.jpg|Branch office in Yogyakarta File:Bank Indonesia Lama di Padang.JPG|Branch office in Padang File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Kantoor van Bank Indonesia TMnr 10015484.jpg|Branch office in Palembang (1950s) File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Het kantoor van de Javasche Bank in Soerabaja TMnr 10015463.jpg|Branch office in Surabaya File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM De Javasche Bank te Malang. TMnr 60005905.jpg|Branch office in Malang File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Gebouw van de Javasche Bank in Koetaradja Noord-Sumatra. TMnr 60008371.jpg|Branch office in Banda Aceh </gallery>

==Banknotes== <gallery> File:25 Guilders - Javasche Bank (1 April 1920) - Baldwin's Hong Kong Coin Auction (2012).jpg|25 Guilders, 1920 File:Collectie NMvWereldculturen, TM-6017-2, Bankbiljet, 'Bankbiljet van de Javasche Bank, ontwerp van Lion Cachet', 1934.jpg|10 Guilders, 1934 File:Collectie NMvWereldculturen, TM-6017-4, Bankbiljet, 'Bankbiljet van de Javasche Bank, ontwerp van Lion Cachet', 1935.jpg|25 Guilders, 1935 File:Collectie NMvWereldculturen, TM-6017-1, Bankbiljet, 'Bankbiljet van de Javasche Bank, ontwerp van Lion Cachet', 1937.jpg|5 Guilders, 1937 File:Collectie NMvWereldculturen, TM-6017-6, Bankbiljet, 'Bankbiljet van De Javasche Bank, ontwerp van Lion Cachet', 1938.jpg|50 Guilders, 1938 </gallery>

==Notes== {{Reflist}}

Category:Defunct banks of the Netherlands Category:Defunct companies of the Dutch East Indies Category:Banks established in 1828 Category:Former central banks and banks of issue Category:Bank Indonesia