Ottoman Bank - Personnel Structure

Personnel Structure

The Bank was an institution with no nationality in essence. However, the group of higher officials was the only level subject to a national criterion. For all other employees, from branch managers to clerks and servants, the Bank did not apply any policy depending on a criterion of nationality or ethnicity that resulted in a personnel pattern not observed in any other European bank.

The general manager and his deputy were British or French, reflecting the majority share held by the two nations. An exception was in the period during World War I, when the general manager and his deputy, being citizens of hostile countries, had been forced to leave the country. During this time, until they could return to their posts in 1918 following the Armistice of Mudros, the Bank was administered by Ottomans of Armenian and Greek ethnicity.

The top level officials and most of the branch managers were Europeans. The middle level officials and some branch managers were non-Muslim Ottomans of Greek, Armenian, Jewish and Christian Arab ethnicity. The bottom of the hierarchy was made up by Muslim Ottomans performing services as clerks, couriers, guards and doorkeepers.

Compared to the proportion of the different population of the empire, the number of the non-Muslim personnel was relatively high. The reason for this employment pattern was the background of non-Muslims with western language skills, accounting and banking education, and culturally western orientation. Such requirements for the occupations in the Ottoman Bank could be acquired mainly by non-Muslims up to the forming of the Republic of Turkey.

Notable general managers

• Sir Edgar Vincent (1889–1897)
• Gaston Auboyneau
• Berç Keresteciyan
• Jacques Jeulin (1966–1985)
• Aclan Acar (1996–2000)
• Turgay Gönensin (2000–2001)