Union Banking Corporation

The Union Banking Corporation (UBC) was a New York corporation incorporated on August 4, 1924 and wholly owned by the Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart of Rotterdam. The Alien Property Custodian vested all of its capital stock under the Trading with the Enemy Act on October 20, 1942, in an order that records the stock as held for the benefit of that bank and describes the bank as owned or controlled by members of the Thyssen family.²

Treasury Investigation, 1941

A Treasury Department memorandum of August 18, 1941, from Mr. May to Mr. J. W. Pehle under the subject "Union Banking Corporation," reports that the corporation was wholly owned by the Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart, that the investigation "produced no evidence as to the ownership of this Dutch bank," that its president, Cornelis Lievense, claimed no knowledge of that ownership but believed it possible that Baron Heinrich Thyssen, brother of Fritz Thyssen, might own a substantial interest, and that Heinrich Thyssen was said to have acquired Hungarian citizenship.¹

The memorandum records gold purchases of over eight million dollars in 1931 to 1933, of which $3,085,000 was delivered to the Federal Reserve Bank on June 15, 1934. It states that the rumor that Fritz Thyssen had large gold deposits in the United States might have arisen from those purchases, while adding that all purchases were "satisfactorily accounted for" in the books. It states that in the fall of 1938 the corporation held two million dollars in currency in a New York safe deposit box, later deposited in its account with Brown Brothers Harriman.¹ The memorandum does not name Prescott Bush.¹

Vesting Order Number 248

On October 20, 1942 the Alien Property Custodian, Leo T. Crowley, signed Vesting Order Number 248, published in the Federal Register on November 7, 1942. It vested "all of the capital stock of Union Banking Corporation, a New York corporation," consisting of 4,000 shares of $100 par value common stock, and listed the registered owners and their shares: E. Roland Harriman, 3,991; Cornelius Lievense, 4; Harold D. Pennington, 1; Ray Morris, 1; Prescott S. Bush, 1; H. J. Kouwenhoven, 1; and Johann G. Groeninger, 1. The order states "all of which shares are held for the benefit of Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart, N. V., Rotterdam, The Netherlands, which bank is owned or controlled by members of the Thyssen family, nationals of Germany and/or Hungary." A second paragraph vested all claims of that bank and of the August Thyssen-Bank, Berlin, against the corporation for indebtedness.²