Bank for Southern Germany

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The Bank for Southern Germany was a private central bank based in Darmstadt .

In 1846 the banker Moritz von Haber applied to the government of the Grand Duchy of Hesse for a license for a bank for southern Germany . They saw the project as fundamentally positive, but assumed that a number of well-known German bankers would participate in the establishment. The turmoil of the March Revolution stopped planning. Instead, the debt repayment fund of the Grand Duchy of Hesse itself issued banknotes in 1848 under the name "Grundrentenscheine". According to the law on basic pension certificates from 1848, notes with a face value of 1, 5 and 10 guilders and in 1849 with 35 and 70 guilders were issued in the same year.

In 1853, the Darmstädter Bank for Trade and Industry was granted a Grand Ducal Hessian license as a commercial bank. The concession for the bank for southern Germany, which was applied for at the same time, was made dependent on the final financing of the Rhein-Main-Bahn . After this condition was met, the license was granted in 1855. The directorate was the same as that of the Bank for Commerce and Industry. It had the right to issue banknotes in guilders , talers and francs . In 1856 it issued a series of banknotes in denominations of 10, 25, 50 and 100 thalers as well as the same denominations in guilders. In 1857 the 10 thaler note and in 1870 the 10 and 25 gulden note were replaced by a new edition.

Most of the neighboring states of the Grand Duchy of Hesse forbade the acceptance of banknotes. Accordingly, the number of notes in circulation fell short of expectations. After the unification of the empire, the bank for southern Germany lost the right to issue smaller denominations with the banking law of March 14, 1875. These were withdrawn. Only the 100-mark note remained in circulation until the bank waived its right to issue notes in 1902. In addition to issuing business, the bank operated short-term lending business.

literature

  • Albert Pick : Paper money. A guide for collectors and enthusiasts . Klinkhardt and Biermann, Braunschweig 1967, pp. 193–196.
  • Carsten Burhop: The credit banks in the early days . 2004, ISBN 9783515084130 , p. 156, online .