Lazar Polyakov
| Lazar Polyakov | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Leyzer Solomonovich Polyakov 1843 Dubroŭna, Orsha district |
| Died | 1914 |
| Citizenship | Russian Empire |
| Years active | 1872–1909 |
| Known for | Banker, speculator |
| Relatives |
Samuel Polyakov, Yakov Polyakov |
Lazar Solomonovich Polyakov (Russian: Ла́зарь Соломо́нович Поляко́в, born 1843 in Dubroŭna – died 1914) was a Russian-Jewish entrepreneur. Polyakov founded his first bank in 1872 and by the 1890s owned an influential financial group; he was informally named "Rothschild of Moscow". His business collapsed in the early 1900s and was completely disbanded by 1909.
Lazar and his brothers, future railroad magnate Samuel Polyakov and banker Yakov Polyakov, were born into the family of a small trader in Dubroŭna. His family was Jewish. Lazar remained in the shadow of his better-known brother and employer Samuel until 1872, when he founded L. S. Polyakov Bank in Moscow.
In the 1870s and 1880s Polyakov founded five more commercial banks (in Moscow, Oryol, Saint Petersburg and Odessa) and two mortgage banks (Moscow, Yaroslavl). He remained the principal shareholder and manager of these banks until their collapse in the 1900s. The group also included insurance and trading companies. The assets of his top level holding companies were valued at 40 million roubles, mostly in the stock of his own enterprises.
Polyakov created wealth through stock exchange deals and trading in Ukrainian and Southern Russian wheat. His business rarely ventured into the textiles, metalworking and real estate that were the fields of traditional Moscow bankers. However, the Jewish sources point at the rivalry between Polyakov and ethnic Russian bankers represented by the mayor of Moscow Nikolay Alekseyev. This competition allegedly influenced the deportation of Jews of 1891–1892.
Polyakov's continuing practice of relying on the inflated value of his own stock used as collateral contributed to his own demise. It started with Yakov Polyakov's bank problems in 1898. Then in 1901 Yakov's Peterburg-Azov Bank collapsed beyond recovery. Recession of the 1900s brought the stock prices down. Polyakov defaulted on his loans and his banks folded one by one. The Ministry of Finance, fearing a domino effect bank run, initially supported Polyakov's banks. However, as the crisis developed the banker himself became an obstacle to restructuring.
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