Foundation of Ziraat Bank

During the first half of the 19th century, with the adoptation of western models at the trade and finance, foreign banks began their activities in the Ottoman Empire. At that period, there was not enough capital to found a national banking system and noone could mention about the existence of national banks as a source of capital. This situation was more harmful on farmers because they had the majority in the population and since they had not any institutional financial structure to apply to, they had to borrow money from the usurers with high interest rates. At the same period Yugoslavia was bound to the Ottoman Empire and the governor of Nis province, Mithat Pasha (1822-1884) began to take the first steps to overcome these difficulties in 1863 and got the reorganization of Homeland Funds which became a law with Homeland Funds Regulations in 1867. Homeland Funds was the first agricultural financial institution founded by state and operated with state guarantee.