The larger business houses are in a majority of cases owned by foreigners, principally of Italian, German, Spanish, American and Cuban citizenship, and now also including numerous Syrian firms. A majority of those classed as Americans are natives of Porto Rico. A number of these merchants arrived in Santo Domingo as poor men and by hard work and shrewd investment built up respectable firms. They carefully preserved their foreign nationality as a valuable asset which protected them from undue interference on the part of the government. One of the most prominent and successful merchants of Santo Domingo was the late J.B. Vicini, an Italian who came to the country penniless, but with his energy and sagacity amassed the largest fortune of the island. His business is now managed by his sons. The larger merchants combine a banking business with their export and import business. The foremost of these private bankers of late years was Santiago Michelena, a Porto Rican. Less than ten years ago there was not a single bank in the Republic, but there are now three well equipped banking institutions, all of them with their local headquarters in the capital. One of these is the International Banking Corporation, which is connected with the National City Bank of New York; it entered the Dominican Republic in April, 1917, by taking over Michelena's banking business. It has a branch in Macoris and Puerto Plata and agencies and correspondents throughout the country. Another bank is the Royal Bank of Canada, which does a flourishing business in a number of the West India Islands; it has branches in five cities of the Dominican Republic. The third bank is the Banco Nacional de Santo Domingo, incorporated by Americans under the Dominican banking law of 1909, with a capital of $500,000. Although it has several branches, its business is not so active as that of the other banks, since it has lent most of its capital to the government. Under the banking law this institution has the right to issue bank notes, but it has not attempted to use the privilege.