Description
Book SynopsisThis important new volume addresses the many aspects of banking in European market economies in the twentieth century, making innovative and authoritative research available to historians, economists, financiers and business analysts.
The distinguished group of authors examines the historic role of banks in utilizing domestic and foreign financial resources. Their contributions show that from the 1880s onwards banks became an integral part of the capital market in continental Europe. In the course of this development the banks played a crucial part in financing industry in North and Central Europe. This symbiotic relationship between banks and industry is analysed and is shown to have had a decisive impact on the inflation and crisis-prone interwar period. The comparative and quantitative methods applied in these papers reveal differences between the countries of North and Central Europe, especially with regard to the degree of state intervention in individual economies. Other topics discussed include the networks of interlocking directorships, the effectiveness of banking legislation and the impact of the national question on banking in central and Southeast Europe.
Universal Banking in the Twentieth Century illustrates both striking similarities and marked differences in the role of universal banking across Europe in terms of the level of industrialization and the pace of economic growth.
Trade Review'. . . the overall standard of historical research and exposition is high and the volume represents a significant addition to our knowledge of how universal banks operate the main countries of Europe.' -- Michael Collins, Business History
'It covers ground of great interest to students of European economic history, particularly concerning the role of financial institutions in relatively late cases of industrialization.' -- John Hassan, The Manchester School
Table of ContentsPart 1 Continuity and discontinuity in historical perspective: continuity and change in Swedish banking, Ragnhild Lundstrom; the Norwegian banking system before and after the interwar crises, Even Lange; origins of the banking system in interwar Czechoslovakia, Jan Hajek; banking and nationality in Hungary, 1867-1914, Zoltan Szasz; universal banking in the Slovene region, 1900-1945, Franjo Stiblar. Part 2 Central banks, the state and universal banks: production versus currency - the Danish Central Bank in the 1920s, Per H. Hansen; Norwegian banks and the legacy of the interwar years, Sverre Knutsen; the establishment of the Anglo-Czechoslovak Bank - conflicting interests, Charlotte Natmessnig; the failure of crisis management - banking laws in interwar Austria, Gertrude Enderle-Burcel. Part 3 Universal banks and industry: banking system changes in the new Independent Czechoslovak Republic, Vlastislav Lacina; bank-industry relations in interwar Slovakia, Jozef Faltus; "mushrooms and dinosaurs" - Sieghart and the Boden-Credit-Anstalt in the 1920s, P.L. Cottrell; "for better, for worse ..." - the Credit-Anstalt and its customers in 1931, Dieter Stiefel; the Wiener Bank-Verein and its customers in the 1920s and 1930s, Desiree D. Verdonk; financing industrial companies in interwar Austria - working capital and liquidity, Alois Mosser; the industrial clientele of the Hungarian General Credit Bank, 1920-26, Agnes Pogany. Part 4 Bankers and bank-industry networks: networks of bankers and industrialists in interwar Greece, Margarita Dritsas; interlocking dictatorships between banks and industry in interwar Sweden, Jan Ottosson; interlocking directorships between commercial banks and industry in interwar Vienna, Peter Eigner.
