The Algerian Company : A Bank Serving the Colonial Economy

Contexte historique

The French colonization of Maghreb was not only a political and military enterprise. The colonization also relied on a collection of companies and financial institutions that organized the exploitation of conquered territories and their subsequent integration into French and European economies. In this plan, the Compagnie algérienne (Algerian Company) occupied a central place.

At the Origines : Land Colonization

The Compagnie algérienne was created in 1877 from the active members of the Société Générale Algerienne (SGA) (Algerian General Society). The SGA was founded in 1865 by Parisian businessmen from the bank Société générale (Paulin Talabot, already present in Marseille) and the bank Crédit foncier (Louis Frémy). In accordance with the objectives of the Second Empire, the majority of SGA’s activity was centered around land colonization. The SGA aimed to promote agricultural colonization on the lands taken from villagers by creating and managing vast domains of agricultural, forest, or plots for settlers. The group also financed transportation infrastructure, mining exploitation, and provided loans to the Treasury. However, the majority of its activity remained focused on land colonization. Since 1869, the SGA benefitted from a long-term, and low priced, concession of a collection of 100,000 hectares taken in Constantine Provence, Algeria. The objective was to rent a part of the land to settlers who were tasked with cultivating, creating villages, and constructing an irrigation system. SGA also hoped to promote the cultivation of plants that were successful in the experiments carried out in their experimental gardens near Algiers. The beginning seems to have been challenging because at the moment of its bankruptcy in 1877 the company had only created around 5 villages, regrouping around twenty farms and 150 settler families. Nevertheless, the SGA contributed to a modification of the traditional landscapes and environments by planting close to 70,000 eucalyptus for industrial exploitation, in addition to participating in the exploitation of iron mines close to Boufarik, Alger, and Oran.

A Bank Serving the Colonization of Maghreb

Following its bankruptcy in 1877 the assets of SGA were taken over by a new society controlled by the Parisian banking house Mirabaud : the Compagnie algérienne. Like its predecessor, the Compagnie algérienne began asserting its land-based mission through the operation of its own estates or by selling land to settlers to whom they loaned their first seeds. The company expands to real estate operations by funding the development of new neighborhoods in cities. The lending of mortgages is a core of the company’s functions. Supported by this market the Compagnie algérienne establishes a network of service counters in the main cities in Algeria. The company became increasingly involved in funding trade between Algeria and France. They were notably involved in the exchanges from Marseille due to them having inherited the branch opened in the city in 1869 by the SGA group.
At the peak of its operations the company constructed docks and warehouses in multiple coastal Algerian towns. This allowed the settlers to stock their harvest and to obtain promissory notes, thus contributing to the growth of an export-oriented agriculture geared towards France. The activities of Compagnie Algérienne followed the developments of French colonial expansion. In 1881, the company established itself in Tunisia and then in Morocco in 1906. Given the importance of the exchanges between Marseille and Maghreb, the Compagnie Algérienne played an increasingly important role in the funding of grain, oil, ores, livestock, wine, soap, refined sugar, and chemical fertilizers trade. Over time, the company’s public banking activity was established.
The company became one of the main establishments providing deposits in Maghreb, head to head with the bank Crédit foncier d’algérie et de Tunisie (CFAT). The Compagnie algérienne collected deposits from settlers, functionaries, and traders involved in Magbreb and maintained a constant flow of capital between the two coasts. During the interwar period, the company ranked eleventh among French banks in terms of deposit collection, ahead of important regional institutions such as the Société Marseillaise de Crédit. The Compagnie Algérienne became one of the major instruments of land and financial colonization that led to the inscription of Maghreb into a transmediterranean economic system of exploitation, primarily directed towards France.

Carried away by the colonial backwash

After having a period of new growth following the Second World War – the plan of Constantine, economic boom of the 1950s – the Compagnie algérienne was quickly confronted with the reality of the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962). The massive departure of European settlers deprived the company of most of its clientele and it was forced to reorganize. Near the end of the 1950s the bank transformed its Parisian financial holdings and diversified its placements in France to industry, real estate, and energy. The Compagnie algérienne continued to participate in Hassi Messaoud’s petroleum company but its role in Algeria became marginal. In 1960 the company merged with the Banque de l’union parisienne (BUP) (Bank of the Parisian Union), and disappeared as a standalone entity.

Critical analysis

The history of Compagnie algérienne illustrates the decisive role of financial institutions in colonization. At first, land companies specialized in the agricultural and mine exploitation on territories taken from colonized people. Over time these institutions became deposit and business banks, fully integrated into the French colonial system. They guaranteed the funding of agricultural exportation, commerce, and industry, all while constructing a transmediterranean network connecting the North of Africa to metropolitan France. Its destiny reveals the structural overlap between colonization and finance. In this regard, la Compagnie Algérienne, along with CFAT or the Banque de l’Algérie (Bank of Algeria), is a rare observatory of the French colonial economy in Maghreb. Far from being a simple bank establishment, the Compagnie Algérienne was a true tool for colonial domination from which the memory of the economic logistics of the French Empire are demonstrated.

The headquarters of the Compagnie Algérienne, a forgotten heritage

Built in 1919 by the architect Henri Ébrard, the headquarters of the Marseillais Compagnie Algérienne on 17 rue Saint-Ferréol, is a remarkable building that combines neo-baroque and art nouveau styles. It housed the bank until 1960. In 2021, the building was renovated by the groups Sebban and B & O to welcome the fash fashion brand Uniqlo. This project made the old bank vault accessible to the public, exposing a remnant of colonial history that was long unknown. In 2024, within the context of one of the association Ancrages’ urban walks, the project “Coffre-fort de l’empire” (The Empire’s vault) was carried out by students of historian Paul Max Morin from Sciences Po Menton. In partnership with Uniqlo, they were able to update the historical plaque already present and contextualize the repurposed vault (now used as fitting rooms). This collective work, supported by Alain Fresko, Emmanuelle Braud-Oppenheim and fed by the Archives nationales d’outre-mer (Nation Archives of Overseas) allowed for this material heritage to be highlighted.

This stop was created by Samia Chabani, Paul-Max Morin, Xavier Daumalin, Alain Fresko, and Emmanuelle Barud-Oppenheim.