on
the Bund served as Shanghai headquarters for the Farmers Bank of China between 1945 and 1949 The Farmers Bank was founded on in
Hankou (modern day
Wuhan) from the amalgamation of provincial agricultural banks in
Henan,
Hubei,
Anhui and
Jiangxi. Governed by the Farmers Bank of China Law, the bank was established to stimulate agricultural development by providing lines of credit to farmers and rural landowners. The loans were intended for use to purchase equipment and crops. The bank was initially under majority government ownership. The bank became one of the four major banks of the
Nationalist era of China. Along with the Central Bank of China (currently the Central Bank of the Republic of China),
Bank of China and
Bank of Communications, the Farmers Bank of China was allowed to issue
its own banknotes until late July 1942, when it lost its
note-issuance privilege whereas the
Central Bank of China was granted the issuance monopoly in the territories still ruled by the Nationalist government. The bank was relocated to
Chongqing in 1937, along with
Kuomintang-led
Nationalist Government during
Second Sino-Japanese War and relocated to the former Japanese colony of Taiwan in 1949 because of the
Chinese Civil War. However, it was not until May 20, 1967 that the bank resumed operations after relocating to Taiwan. The Government of the People's Republic of China incorporated the bank's assets in Mainland China into the
People's Bank of China, but later transferred these to the
Agricultural Bank of China. From 1967 until 2006, the bank opened and operated 107 branches throughout Taiwan. It also operated overseas offices in
Los Angeles and
Seattle. The
Taiwanese government undertook a reform of the banking industry in 1992 with the listing of state-owned banks on the
stock exchange. The Farmers Bank of China was partially privatized in 1994, and all government shares were put on the market in 1999. Accordingly, the Farmers Bank of China Law was repealed by
Legislative Yuan in 2005 to complete full privatization of the bank. The bank was the 14th largest lender in Taiwan until the bank was acquired by the
Taiwan Cooperative Bank () on May 1, 2006. ==Former Chairmen==