Banca Commerciale Italiana Trust Co.

Banca Commerciale Italiana Trust Co. of New York

East Harlem branch
Founded	1924 (1924) in New York City, New York
Founder	Banca Commerciale Italiana
Defunct	Template:End date and age

The Banca Commerciale Italiana Trust Co. of New York (BCITNY) was created by Banca Commerciale Italiana (BCI) in 1924 and ceased operations in 1939, prior to the outbreak of World War II.

In 1917, Lodovico Toeplitz, who headed BCI’s Foreign Department, made a visit to New York City. By January 1918, BCI had established an agency on Broadway dedicated to financing Italian imports, providing acceptance credit facilities, and collecting deposits from Italian immigrants. At that period, BCI was Italy’s largest banking institution and a major financier for industries in northern Italy.

By 1921, BCI had moved its agency to a property it owned on Williams Street. Earlier, around 1913–14, the bank had acquired shares in Lincoln Trust Co., based in New York, which it later divested in 1922.

Due to changes in U.S. regulations, BCI formed BCITNY in 1924 to maintain its deposit-taking activities. The president of BCITNY concurrently served as head of BCI’s New York agency to ensure cohesive management.

From March through June 1928, Giuseppe Toeplitz traveled to New York to supervise the establishment of Bancomit Corp., a BCI subsidiary focused on the American real estate sector. BCITNY expanded its presence with branches located on 6th Avenue, Mulberry Street, Harlem, South Brooklyn, and Long Island City—areas with significant Italian immigrant communities.

BCITNY also played a role in enabling Italian industrial companies such as Montecatini and Società Generale Elettrica dell'Adamello to access U.S. lending markets.

In 1928, BCITNY underwrote bonds issued by the Italian Superpower Corporation; its president, Siro Fusi, held executive positions within various Italian-American organizations.

In 1929, BCI launched subsidiaries in Boston and Philadelphia—the latter being the sole foreign bank operating there at that time. During the 1930s, BCITNY became a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

The Italian immigrant bank Banca Stabile was merged into BCIT in 1933. That same year, Adolfo Rossi spearheaded a restructuring of BCI’s North American operations. Toward the end of 1934, BCIT received $15,000 worth of gold sourced from South American mines intended for sale to the U.S. government.

BCI closed its Boston branch in 1937 and sold its Philadelphia subsidiary to Liberty Title & Trust Co. in 1938.

In February 1939, BCITNY was liquidated with its assets transferred to Manufacturers Trust Co. Two years later, following the United States’ declaration of war against Italy in December 1941, the Federal Reserve seized and liquidated the assets of BCI’s U.S. agency. BCI did not reestablish operations in New York until it reopened a branch on March 6, 1969.

References

• Banca Commercial Italiana (1997) Archivo Storico: Collana Inventari. (Milan).
• State of New York Banking Department