In the fourth decade of the 20th century, the County of Satu Mare held a significant potential of development, with 52 factories with more than 20 workers, a modern and efficient bank system, and a solid infrastructure among which, the first airport of Satu Mare, opened at that time. There were a wide range of economic enterprises: 13 in food-production, 7 in textiles, 5 in metallurgy (the greatest being Unio and Princz Brothers), 6 wood processing, 14 in other different fields, 3 printing press, and 14 banks. Satu Mare has a fervent cultural life determined by the multicultural and multiethnic character of the city. There was a theater, a philharmonic orchestra, several public libraries, two museums. 21 newspapers were published here (of which 11 were in Hungarian), there were 12 high schools (of which 5 in Hungarian), 14 primary schools, and an apprentice school. ST
THE BANK SYSTEM
Banks are the most developed forms of the capitalist system, becoming a common presence in the economic life of the county of Satu Mare in the second half of the 19th century. The first bank in Satu Mare was The Funding House Society of Satu Mare (Szatmári Takarékpénztár Egyesület) in 1867, with a social capital of 120.000 crowns. In 1914 there were 53 banks and credit cooperative societies in Satu Mare. In 1937 there were 22 banks in the county with a social capital of 667.261.296 lei. Beside the banks, there were more than 20 cooperative societies of credit (popular banks) with 4585 members and a social capital of payment of 7.485.795 lei. ST