| Code | DS/UK/63 |
| Corporate Name | The London and Eastern Trade Bank Ltd |
| Dates | 1920 - 1949 |
| OtherFormsOfName | LETB |
| Activity | The London and Eastern Trade Bank (LETB) was formed in 1920 by White Russians. Nobel, taking over the London business of the Russian Bank for Foreign Trade (RBFT), which had been nationalised following the Bolshevik revolution, had acceptances outstanding prior to the 1914-18 war moratorium to an extent that a special advance from the Bank was required to meet them. The Bank, through Securities Trust, took shares (£160,000 of an issued share capital of £600,000) in LETB in settlement of the RBFT debt but was never represented on the board although under the terms of a voting trust, principal shareholders agreed not to act in a way contrary to the Bank's wishes. LETB was never successful and lost most of its assets in 1930. The Bank's interest in the bank ceased when a large proportion of the shares was sold in 1946 to Zilkha, an Egyptian, and Peel-Fletcher, although some of the proceeds of the sale were left on deposit with the bank pending the settlement of a legal action against it. This loose-end, the bank's liquidation in 1949, Peel-Fletcher's bankruptcy, and an action against Nobel by White Russian interests occurred in the years up to 1962. |
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