The Panic of 1907 and the Financial Meltdown in Colonial Egypt: The Rise and Fall of Cassa di Sconto e di Risparmio

The history of the bankruptcy of the Cassa di Sconto e di Risparmio (CSR) in Egypt following the outbreak of the 1907 financial crisis has remained largely unexplored to date. The CSR was an Italian-Levantine banking institution rooted in the multicultural business world typical of North African societies during the Belle Époque. During the cotton and farmland economic boom, the CSR was a universal banking institution that developed to capitalize on the unprecedented business opportunities offered by the market, especially from the end of the Long Depression in the nineteenth century onwards. As there is no archive of this institution, its history, business, and bankruptcy are reconstructed by consulting official pamphlets, local and international newspapers, and various archives of Italian banks that had been linked to the Cassa, such as the Banco di Napoli, the Banco di Roma, and the Banca d’Italia.