Early in the twentieth century, the Franco-Chinese bank was jointly established by French and Hoa businessmen in Saigon-Cholon. Within five years, its capital grew from 10 million to 50 million francs. The Hoa community would then go on to establish their own banks providing capital to rice merchants and operating their own pawnshops. During the early years of the Republic of Vietnam, Chinese controlled three of the ten private banks while the rest were French and British owned. Furthermore, Chinese also controlled foreign Chinese banks such as the Bank of China, Bank of Communications, and Bank of East Asia. In South Vietnam, 28 of the 32 banks were controlled by the Hoa and ethnic Chinese capital accounted for 49 percent of the total capital invested in eleven local private banks in 1974. The Chinese also ran the bank's Chinese Affairs Office to serve the Hoa business community. Before 1975, Chinese capital, entrepreneurship, and skilled manpower in South Vietnam played an important role in developing domestic markets and international trade.