ABSTRACT
Officially, after 1876, the foundation of national banks was eagerly promoted as needed for national progress, and the re sponse was surpassing even the most optimistic expectations. By 1879 permission for founding new banks was stopped, their number having reached 153. But parallel private banks began to mushroom: in 1878 there was only one; by 1883 there were already 197 private banks. The zaibatsu realised the necessity to secure ample capital supply and, one after the other, founded their own banks: Mitsui in 1876, Yasuda in 1880; Mitsubishi took over the national bank number 119 and in 1895 established its private Mitsubishi Bank; Sumitomo did the same in that year.
