In the 1920s, during the development of Japan's bond market, some companies established in colonial Korea, particularly railway companies, issued many bonds. Issuances of these bonds indicate changes in railway finance and the emergence of a new form of investment in colonial Korea. This paper examines the process and the impact of changes in railway finance and analyzes investors in colonial securities. The Chosen Railway, a railway company in colonial Korea, issued bonds and repaid the money to colonial banks such as the Bank of Chosen and the Chosen Industrial Bank, which underwrote the bonds. Through the issue and the repayment, the Bank of Chosen, which faced bankruptcy, was able to clear a part of the credit, and the Chosen Industrial Bank intensified agricultural finance. In the later 1920s, securities companies such as Yamaichi Securities Co. came to underwrite the bonds of the Chosen Railway, thereby taking the place of colonial banks. Investors in bonds underwritten by Yamaichi Securities Co. mainly included the Zaibatsu's financial institutions and small and medium Japanese financial institutions such as regional banks.
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