Bank of Joseon

Following the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905 which reduced the Korean Empire to a Japanese protectorate, the dominant status which Dai-Ichi Bank had enjoyed in Korea since 1878 became a matter of debate in Japan. In August 1907, Japan's Resident-General Itō Hirobumi and Dai-Ichi Bank's head Shibusawa Eiichi agreed that Dai-Ichi's operations should be eventually transferred to a dedicated central bank for the territory. A debate ensued between Itō and the Japanese finance ministry, with the latter favoring the creation of a Korean branch of the Bank of Japan over that of a stand-alone colonial institution over which Tokyo would have less direct control. Eventually Itō's position won the debate, and the finance ministry rationalized the decision as preferable to preserve financial stability. The new Bank of Korea was created by Japanese law of July 1909, largely modelled on the Bank of Taiwan (est. 1898) but with a greater role for Itō in its governance than in the Taiwanese precedent. Dai-Ichi Bank kept its branches in Seoul and Busan but later in 1909 transferred all its other Korean branches and offices to the Bank of Korea, totalling 220 regular employees and 121 support staff in Chinnampo, Daegu, Gunsan, Hamhung, Incheon, Kaesong, Kyongsong, Masan, Mokpo, Pyongyang, Songjin, Wonsan, and across the Yalu River in Andong. The transfer also included central operations and the new building initially planned by Dai-Ichi Bank for itself in Seoul, then still under construction and which became the Bank of Korea's head office.

The Bank of Korea assumed responsibility for the Dai-Ichi Bank's notes in circulation, which totalled 12,000,000 yen, and Dai-Ichi Bank would further transfer to the Bank of Korea the 4,000,000 yen in specie reserves which backed its banknotes. The balance was converted by the Bank of Korea to a loan of 20 years without interest to the Dai-Ichi Bank. The new institution's first president was Ichihara Morihiro, a former mayor of Yokohama who had joined Dai-Ichi Bank in 1906 to run its Korean network and kept the position until his death in October 1915.