The foundation of the bank was part of the implementation of the
New Economic Policy (NEP), following the monetary dislocation and
barter economy during the
Russian Civil War. On , the
All-Russian Central Executive Committee passed a resolution for the founding of the State Bank of the
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, followed by a similar resolution passed by the
Council of People's Commissars on and a statute passed by the Central Committee on which stipulated that the State Bank was part of the
Ministry of Finance (Narkomfin). It began operations on 16 November 1921. In February 1922,
Vladimir Lenin derided the State Bank as "a bureaucratic paper game", comparing it to a
Potemkin village in a letter to the bank’s head
Aron Sheinman whom he accused of "Communist-mandarin childishness". The State Bank presided over the
two successive devaluations of the
ruble, in 1922 (1 for 10,000) and 1923 (1 for 100). Meanwhile, on it was granted the right to issue the gold-backed
chervonets or gold ruble that brought an end to the
early Soviet hyperinflation. In 1923, it took its permanent name as State Bank of the USSR. In 1924 the State Bank produced its first consolidated
credit plan, and formed the Committee on Banks to oversee the sectoral banks that had been created under the NEP. In 1925, it took over the previously separate cash holding system of Narkomfin. and major world currencies, February 1985 Following aggressive monetary expansion during
World War II, the
monetary reform of 1947 resulted in another round of devaluation (1 for 10) and related confiscatory measures. In 1959, the consolidation of the specialized long-term credit banks into the
Construction Bank of the USSR resulted in the assumption of some former operations of Selkhozbank, Tsekombank and municipal banks by the State Bank. The
monetary reform of 1961 introduced another round of devaluation (1 for 10). In 1963, the State Bank's control over the system was further strengthened as it took over the
State Labor Savings Banks System from the Soviet Ministry of Finance. Gosbank and the CBR continued to operate in parallel until the
August Coup. On 23 August, Russian president Boris Yeltsin ordered the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union to finish the transfer of Union-level organizations within the Russian SFSR to the government of the Russian SFSR by the end of the year. Andrei Zverev was appointed by the government of the Russian SFSR as the temporary director of Gosbank, although Gerashchenko did not submit his resignation until 26 December. On 15 November, Yeltsin took over the
Ministry of Finance of the USSR and
Goznak. After the signing of the
Belovezh Accords, the
Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of Russia passed a resolution transferring Gosbank's "facilities, documents, and specialists" to the Bank of Russia, and on 1 January 1992, it took over the rest of Gosbank's resources in Russia, after which Gosbank officially ceased to exist. ==Leadership==