Mykhailov O. Contribution of the nobility of Bessarabia province to the formation and development of the credit and banking system of the region (the late 19th – the early 20th centuries).

The thesis is the first comprehensive study in the Ukrainian and foreign historiography devoted to the contribution of the nobility of Bessarabia province to the formation and development of the credit and banking system of the region in the late 19th – the early 20th centuries. It has been shown that the state of the Bessarabian nobility, as well as the representatives of the aristocracy of different regions of the Russian Empire, reflected all social and economic transformations of the empire, which were carried out at the imperial and provincial levels. The implementation of economic and credit-linked reforms facilitated the involvement of the nobility in the system of credit institutions, on the one hand, and the development of a number of negative and positive consequences for the well-being of the underprivileged population, on the other hand. It has been found out that the level of credit arrangement for the urban population and the peasants of Bessarabia province did not fully meet general needs. The solution of the credit issue in the framework of the implementation of the Law on Credit (1895) and the programmes of the development of credit societies, although spread with the support of the aristocracy, still had a limited level of subsidizing the population. The credit issue in the province was further aggravated by the purchase of land by peasants through the Peasant Land Bank at high prices, which increased social tension and public discontent with the existing financial system. The credit system infrastructure in Bessarabia in the late 19th century was in an unsatisfactory condition and needed immediate restructuring. After analyzing the materials available, the conclusion has been made that the credit service to the population of Bessarabia province was in the constant development. The increase of the nobility's involvement in the work of banking and credit institutions has been found out to be associated with the abolition of serfdom and the search for new prospects. The processes of engaging such institutions into the work of municipal councils and district councils have been given attention to. The work of banking and credit institutions improved the level of agriculture, since the services they provided largely expanded public services. The great bankers and financiers of the Russian Empire, in general, and Bessarabia, in particular, were involved in the implementation of the objectives of the state credit campaign: the organization of seminars, lectures, publication of articles in periodicals. The vast majority of such financial workers had personal or hereditary noble titles.