Evaluation of the effectiveness of the banking system of the USSR is a complex issue, and in many respects politicized, which does not add to the ease in its solution.
Karl Marx, who lived in the middle of the 19th century, described the banking system of his day as "the most skillful and perfect creation to which the capitalist mode of production generally leads." The Soviet banking system was also skillful in its own way and was no less perfect. Although it differed significantly from the banking system of states with a more or less free market.
Features of the Soviet banking system
The banking system of the Soviet Union consisted of territorial and specialized institutions of the State Bank of the USSR, all non-cash settlements and payments between which were carried out using interbranch turnovers. The movement of means of payment was made by transferring from one account to another according to “memorial orders” (something between a payment order and a payment request) or by offsetting mutual claims (modern clearing).
Soviet academician Glushkov developed a project for collecting economic information from all over the country and managing the economy of the USSR using computers (cyber economics). But Perestroika prevented this grandiose idea from being realized.
Soviet enterprises and institutions had cash in their cash desk within the predetermined limits, and could also use the money from the proceeds within certain limits annually set by the State Bank of the USSR with the participation of the heads of organizations. The size and target direction of the volume of cash from the State Bank or withdrawal of cash from circulation were reviewed on a quarterly basis. When drawing up cash plans, the State Bank institutions were obliged to carefully analyze the result from the implementation of the plan and, on the basis of this analysis, develop proposals to ensure the correct balance between income and expenditures of the population, to reduce the issue of new money or increase the amount of money withdrawn from circulation.
Sberbank (then a fully state-owned bank) worked directly with the population, being, perhaps, the most reliable in the world, since all operations and safety of deposits were guaranteed by the Soviet state.
These and other features would mean that the inflation rate in the Soviet Union was extremely low. And in practice it turned out like that. In addition (and even under the strict supervision of the Soviet internal affairs bodies), such a scheme practically excluded the introduction (or the possibility of at least a short existence) of at least some kind of crime in the banking sector.
The considered feature also ensured high stability and a fairly efficient distribution of funds across sectors of the economy.
Output
The disadvantages of the banking system of the USSR include the fact that the effectiveness of its work directly depended on the effectiveness of the Soviet leaders who ruled the country. Under Lenin, Stalin, Brezhnev, Andropov, she worked best.
In general, the Soviet banking system can be called quite effective. It should also be taken into account that it helped to achieve the goal not of a market, but of a planned economy. Therefore, she coped with the assigned tasks in a very good way. The banking system was very reliable, both financially and economically. Its protection from the introduction of criminal elements was also at its best. There are no analogues of such a Soviet banking system to this day. However, if we revive it, then nothing will remain of the market economy and financial markets in our country. Good or bad - a topic for a separate article.
