Yokohama Specie Bank
A branch office was opened in Shanghai in 1893. This was the first of many offices which would eventually be established throughout China. In 1894 a branch was established in Bombay. With the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 to 1905, the Yokohama Specie Bank established branches in the Kwantung Leased Territory and served as paymaster for the Imperial Japanese Army. From 1906, under its 7th president, Takahashi Korekiyo the bank was permitted to issue its own banknotes for use in the Kwantung Leased Territory and in China. In July of the same year, Japan's first leased line telephone opened between the Bank of Japan and the Yokohama Specie Bank head office. In 1911, the bank signed an underwriting agreement with the Imperial Chinese Chunghwa Post for the establishment of a postal banking system in China. In the Taisho period, the Yokohama Specie Bank became one of the three major exchange banks in the world. The bank continued in its role as the paymaster for the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War and Pacific War, assisted by its widespread branch office network. Its assets in New York and Honolulu were seized by the United States government in 1941. In 1946, following the surrender of Japan, the bank was officially merged with the The Bank of Tokyo as part of anti-"zaibatsu" ordinances issued by the American occupation authorities. The bank was finally liquidated in 1963.