WesWorld

In April 1854 the principal bankers of the city of Frankfurt received the concession for the establishment of a reserve bank from the mayor and city council. The founding private banks – the Gebrüder Bethmann, Bankhaus Grunelius, Rothschild und Söhne and the Frankfurter Vereinskasse – wished to facilitate commercial transactions in southern Germany. The new bank was granted the right of note issue in the Vereinstaler under strict limitations; credit transactions were disallowed to avoid risk and assure solidity.

It soon became the central bank of Frankfurt’s private banking houses and took an important role in balancing currency flows between north and south Germany. However, with the establishment of the Reichsbank in 1875 its right of note issue was withdrawn; in compensation however it was permitted to accept interest-bearing deposits and administer trust funds; asset management became a major facet of the bank’s activities in the latter portion of the Nineteenth Century. In the wake of the Great War the former Reichs-Kredit-Gesellschaft was absorbed, and the Frankfurter Bank was at last allowed to offer commercial credit transactions and participate in stock offerings.

Today the Frankfurter Bank functions as one of Germany’s large commercial banks.

Founded in 1674 in Frankfurt Bankhaus Metzler is the second-oldest private bank in Germany. It originated in the commodities trading business of Benjamin Metzler, a trader in linen and wool, and entered the finance through discounting of bills and currency exchange. In 1742 the house was represented on the Frankfurter Börsenvorstand and since that time the house has been a member of the Frankfurt stock exchange.

In the Nineteenth Century the house concentrated on asset management and private banking services, eschewing competition with the new joint-stock banks. Its present lines of business include corporate finance and equities, asset management for private and corporate clients and providing investment advice for individual and institutional clients.

The Ritterschaftliches Kreditinstitut Stade is a public mortgage bank, founded in 1826 by George IV, King of Hannover, through issuance of a charter to the knighthood of the Duchy of Bremen. Its purpose, confirmed by statute, was to grant long-term loans on favourable terms to its members, who, initially, were required to be of the knightly class and possessed of a knight’s fee. The charter has since been amended to expand membership to any free landholder. The existence of the bank has allowed its members to undertake long-term land improvements and construction. It operates in the province of Lower Saxony.

Founded in 1825 as the Calenberg-Göttingen-Grubenhagen-Hildesheim'scher ritterschaftlicher Kreditverein by King George IV of Hannover, this institution functions as a mortgage bank for its members, who were originally limited to members of the knightly class. In the field of agriculture, the bank grants long-term fixed interest loans, development loans and crop loans. Furthermore, housing loans are offered and since 1930 the bank has been allowed to offer savings deposit accounts to its members. It operates in the southern portion of the province of Lower Saxony.

The Herstatt family financial house begins in 1727, when Isaac Herstatt emigrated to Köln from Valenciennes in Flanders. He and his descendants operated a trading house in the city, dealing in silk and other textiles, discounting bills of exchange and acting as commission brokers. The first record of the firm acting as bankers comes in 1792, when Johann David Herstatt is mentioned in the records of the minutes of the city council, when the firm was involved in the secularisation of real estate during the French occupation of the city.

Following the Wars of Liberation the house cooperated with other banks in Köln to finance the early industrialisation of western Germany. Among the many companies in which the house was involved were the Rheinschifffahrts-Assekuranz-Gesellschaft (from which emerged the Agrippina-Versicherung), the Rheinischen Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, the Köln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, Kölnische Feuer-Versicherungs-Gesellschaft and the Colonia-Versicherung. Among the house’s customers were Krupp of Essen, Felten und Guilleaume and the Vulkan AG für Hüttenbetriebe und Bergbau. The house’s principal business was the floatation of bonds for German cities and major industrial companies.

In the wake of the Great War the firm acquired the Bankhaus Sternfeld und Tiefenthal and remains a fixture of German business finance.

This Köln-based private bank was founded in 1790 by Johann Heinrich Stein, formerly an apprentice in a tobacco and colonial wares business in Bad Kreuznach; initially the new venture operated a commission business in leather, hardware, groceries, wine and porcelain, but banking soon followed. In 1799 the founder married the heiress of the influential Stolberg family, and through that established links with many of the city’s rich and influential citizens. In the first decades of the Nineteenth Century the firm’s focus was on exchange, discounting of bills and private lending.

In 1818 the firm, with other Köln banks, formed the Rheinischen Assekuranz-Gesellschaft, which remained one of the firm’s largest investments for many years. Closely allied with the banking families Deichmann, Schaaffhausen, Schnitzler and Herstatt the house had continued to play a significant role in private banking until the present time.

The banking House of Gebrüder Bethmann was founded in 1748 by the Frankfurt merchant-bankers Johann Philipp Bethmann and Simon Moritz Bethmann, to carry on the business founded by their uncle, Johann Jacob Adamy. Initially if functioned as an importer and wholesaler of colonial goods, textiles and dyestuffs. By 1754 the house was fully involved in the marketing of bonds and in 1778 the house introduced to Germany the Dutch concept of the Partialobligation, syndicating a loan of 200,000 gulden for the Austrian treasury that was divided into two-hundred bonds each of one thousand gulden. The new partible obligations proved to be a success, and between 1778 and 1793 the house sold Austrian bonds to a value in excess of seventeen million gulden; for other dynasties and for Imperial cities, it sold a further bonds of this type valued at more than twenty million gulden, laying the foundation for the modern German bond market. While overshadowed by the rise of the House of Rothschild in the Nineteenth Century the firm concentrated its efforts in raising capital for many of Germany’s new industrial and commercial enterprises, including the Taunus-Eisenbahn, the Frankfurt-Hanauer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft and the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Nordbahn-Gesellschaft. In the area of asset management, the house rapidly expanded its horizons beyond the city of Frankfurt. Among the many historical personalities who entrusted their private assets to the house were Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, Tsar Alexander I and Pope Pius VI.

After the Great War the house evolved successfully from a special bank for securities and asset management to a general commercial bank. In 1919 it acquired the Berlin-based Bankhaus Delbrück Schickler, which itself had been founded in 1910 by the merger of the Bankhaus Gebrüder Schickler and the Bankhaus Delbrück Leo.

This firm was chartered on 1 July 1834 by the Bavarian Landtag at the suggestion of King Ludwig I, and began its operation in October of the following year. Initially its capital was set at ten million gulden, but raised to twenty million before it opened its doors. The expansion of liquid capital slowed by 1862 with nearly all of the bank’s capital tied to long-term mortgages; permission was sought and gained to allow the issue of secured debentures (Pfandbriefe); this allowed the bank to participate more fully in the early stages of industrialisation in Bavaria.

In its early days the bank possessed the privilege of note issue; this was withdrawn in 1875; in compensation the bank was permitted to undertake other lines of business, and moved towards being a universal bank rather than a mere mortgage bank. In the latter quarter of the Nineteenth Century the bank built up a strong network of branch banks and acquired a number of local banks throughout Bavaria; at the outbreak of the Great War it operated no fewer than one hundred branches.

It played a major role in the stabilisation of the currency in the immediate aftermath of the Great War, and continued its growth, absorbing no fewer than thirty-six local banks in the period 1923-1940. While mortgages continue to be its largest line of business the firm engages in corporate underwriting, currency exchange and deposit banking across southern Germany.

Founded in 1802 by the Veronese entrepreneur Peter Paul Maffei this bank has played a prominent role in Bavarian and German finance for more than one hundred forty years. While in its early years the discounting of bills and currency exchange formed much of its business, under the direction of Joseph Anton von Maffei (son of the founder) the bank took the lead in financing much of Bavaria’s early development. The Bankhaus Maffei was a co-founder of the Bayerische Hypotheken und Wechselbank, and in 1836 it financed the Eisenwerk Hirschau – predecessor of the J.A. Maffei Locomotive Works. In 1841 the house also financed the construction of the Hotel Bayerischer Hof, a landmark of the city of München until today. Later in the century the house was involved in creating the Bayerischen Rückversicherungsgesellschaft and held a significant portion of the capital of the Siemens-Schuckertwerke AG.

Since the Great War it has rebuilt its network of correspondents and focuses on asset management and private banking for clients across southern Germany.

In September 1814 Joel Meyer, then resident in Leipzig- Brühl received permission to operate an exchange business in partnership with his son Alexis. It was converted to a limited partnership in 1887. From 1823 it operated as a bank with interests in all phases of finance, though lending to the textile and tobacco industries remained its primary area of activity. The bank was also active in funding the cultural life of the city of Leipzig – it funded a number of scholarships and for many years the managing director of the bank served as the treasurer of the Gewandhaus and its orchestra.

Since the Great War the house has been quite active in financing the expanding aircraft industry in Saxony-Anhalt and has a particularly close relationship with the Junkers aircraft firm.

This institution was founded in 1921 as the Bank für deutsche Industrie-Obligationen to provide temporary assistance to industry in overcoming the disruptions brought about by the Great War. In 1927 its role was changed to focus on the granting of medium and long-term loans small and medium-size commercial and industrial companies and to assist in agricultural debt relief in eastern Germany; its name was changed in 1931 to reflect this change. Besides its headquarters in Berlin it maintained offices in various German cities including Breslau, Dresden, Hannover, Köln, Königsberg, München and Stettin. In 1939 it took over the considerable assets of the Bank der Deutschen Luftfahrt, which had been liquidated following the so-called “Aerobank” scandal. It presently supports German and European industry with loans, risk management services, capital market services and advisory services.

On 11 December 1812 King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia issued a charter for the Feuer-Versicherungsgesellschaft of the city of Berlin. In subsequent years this became the Berlinische Feuer-Versicherungs-Anstalt AG, and expanded its business of fire and accident insurance across the whole of Prussia. In 1920 it merged with the Leipzig Versicherungs AG, and in 1924 acquired both the Magdeburger Versicherung AG and the Magdeburger Hagelversicherung AG and adopted the current corporate style.

The firm writes a full line of corporate and industrial insurance, including property and casualty, equipment maintenance, business interruption and many specialist policies. In the last decade it has been active in writing policies in the under-developed markets of south-eastern Europe, where it works in concert with local affiliates to address the growing insurance needs of those nations.

Formed in 1869 by a group of München und Augsburg bankers to the Bavarian court, this public bank was among the first of its kind in the Kingdom of Bavaria. Not only permitted to engage in deposit and commercial credit activities, it was also permitted to deal in mortgages and similar securities, becoming one of the largest universal banks in southern Germany before the Great War. It established a large branch network in the major cities in Bavaria.

In the wake of the Great War and the abolition of the monarchy, the bank merged with the Royal Bank Nuremberg and the Bayerische Notenbank. The former had been formed in 1780 as the Hochfürstlich-Brandenburg-Anspach-Bayreuthische Hofbanco in Ansbach, and for many years served as regional bank in Bavarian Franconia and nearby areas. The latter had formerly served as the central bank of the Kingdom of Bavaria which at one time held the right of note issue in Bavaria – a right given up upon formation of the German Empire.

Since the acquisition of its former rivals the Vereinsbank gone on to be an important factor in the industrial development of Bavaria. While not having significant representation abroad it has participated in underwriting syndicates for both foreign and domestic loans.

The origins of this south German insurance firm date from 1835, when the Allgemeine Versorgungsanstalt im Großherzogthum Baden was formed under government auspices. In 1866 this office was converted into a joint stock company as Karlsruher Lebensversicherung AG, dealing principally with life insurance. Surviving the stresses of the Great War the firm in 1923 joined with the Karlsruher Beamten-Versicherung, the Karlsruher Rechtsschutzversicherung and the Karlsruher Rendite Immobilien to form the current firm, which offers a complete line of insurance services catering primarily to the individual and the small businessman. In 1932 it merged with the Badische Beamten-Genossenschaftsbank and through that subsidiary has established close working relationships with many of the savings banks throughout the province of Baden-Württemberg. In 1939 it acquired, through exchange of shares, the Württembergische Lebensversicherung and the Württembergische Versicherung, expanding the scope of its insurance business.

This Berlin private bank was founded in 1881 by the brothers James Nathan Hardy and Ludwig Nathan Hardy, who had been previously associated with the London banking house of Hardy Nathan & Sons. In 1889 the bank was reorganised as a limited liability company, and came under the influence of the financier Fritz Andreae. The Rheinisch-Westphälische Disconto-Gesellschaft took a substantial share in the bank in 1913, and it has since worked in close cooperation with the Disconto-Gesellschaft and its successor the Dresdener Bank. The primary focus of the bank is the financing of international trade and the underwriting of foreign securities.

This financial institution, located in the city of Bremen, was organised in 1923 to carry on the business of the former Bankhaus Schröder and Weyhausen, which had suffered losses in the financial difficulties that followed the Great War. Bankhaus Schröder and Weyhausen had been founded in 1905 and was closely allied with Bremen’s large shipping interest. Following the reorganisation, which saw the bank change from a private bank to a universal bank offering a full line of banking services, it prospered, taking the lead in the formation of the great Deschimag engineering combine and other major industrial undertakings. In 1938 it acquired the Hamburg-based Bankhaus Behrens und Söhne and in 1942 the Bremen-Amerika Bank.

The Bankhaus Neelmeyer AG is a private bank based in the city of Bremen and branches in the cities of Cuxhaven and Bremerhaven. It was founded in 1907 by financier Franz Neelmeyer as a brokerage business. In the troubled times following the Great War Neelmeyer, in concert with Heinrich Landwehr, Herrman Leverenz and Adolf Arnold, acquired the Oldenburgischen Spar und Leihbank, whose capital was sufficient to lift the small Neelmeyer brokerage business to the ranks of Bremen’s banks. It has since grown through its close contacts with government officials; it suffered some serious setbacks during the investigation of the Aerobank Affair. Nevertheless it has profited through shrewd investments in Bremen’s real estate market and in private securities.

Bankhaus C. L. Seeliger has its business focus in the support of wealthy private clients of the entrepreneurial middle class and agriculture in the region of Braunschweig in Lower Saxony. In addition to the normal functions of a private bank the firm places increased emphasis on its investment and credit business, particularly in support of agriculture.

The house began its activities in 1794 under the ownership of Heinrich Anton Christoph Seeliger, a merchant in the textile and grain trade. Despite the uncertainties of the time the firm prospered in the import and export trades and in 1825 the sons of the founder, Carl Ludwig Bernhard Seeliger and Theodor Seeliger, joined in partnership with their father to expand the house’s scope of activities. Under successive generations of the Seeliger family the firm continued its mercantile and financial activities until 1884, when trade activities were given up and the house concentrated upon finance as its business.

In 1918 the house took over the business of the Bankhaus Fink, one of its principal competitors, and in 1920 it acquired some of the business of the former Braunschweigische Staatsbank following the reorganisation of that institution.

Organised in 1923 as the Hilfskasse gemeinnütziger Wohlfahrtseinrichtungen Deutschlands GmbH this institution operates as a special bank for companies, institutions and organisations engaged in the fields of health, education and social services. While it functions as a universal bank on behalf of its clients it focuses on their specialist needs to documenting donations, factoring, asset management and administration of trust funds. Ownership is divided between six major social welfare organisations – the Caritas Stiftung Deutschland, the Deutsche Paritätische Wohlfahrtsverband, the Arbeiterwohlfahrt (an offshoot of the Social Democratic Party), the Deutsche Rote Kreuz, the Diakonie Deutschland im Evangelischen Werk and the Zentralwohlfahrtsstelle der Juden in Deutschland – and a large number of private shareholders, with the majority of the shares in free float.

In addition to its headquarters in Berlin the bank operates twenty-three branches across Germany - Breslau, Dresden, Erfurt, Essen, Frankfurt, Graz, Hamburg, Hannover, Innsbruck, Karlsruhe, Kassel, Klagenfurt, Köln, Königsberg, Leipzig, Magdeburg, Mainz, München, Nürnberg, Rostock, Salzburg, Stuttgart and Wien.

Though only formally created in 1922, this financial institution represents but a part of the business empire of the well-known Gutmann family of Wien. It offers private banking and asset management services to domestic and foreign entrepreneurs, foundations, high net worth individuals and institutional investors. The bank has been able to maintain close connections in the former lands of the Hapsburg Monarchy and many of its customers are drawn from central and eastern Europe. In addition to the bank’s headquarters in Wien, it has its own local offices in Belgrade, Budapest and Prague.