Cologne Stock Exchange

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The Cologne Stock Exchange is the third oldest stock exchange in Germany after Augsburg and Nuremberg . It changed location within the city several times until it concentrated on the functions of a pure commodity exchange in 1952 and has since resided on Cologne's “ Unter Sachsenhausen ” banking mile .

history

In the Middle Ages, Cologne was one of the most important financial and trading cities in Europe. There was therefore a need to institutionalize the trade in goods, money and bills of exchange . The city council decided to follow the cities of Augsburg and Nuremberg, which had already decided in 1540 to set up an exchange . The Cologne market first began in the late Middle Ages as a commodity and exchange market , in the early days came effects - and foreign exchange added.

Council edict of February 20, 1553 - Establishment of a stock exchange in Bolzengasse in Cologne

Late Middle Ages

Therefore, it was from 20 February 1553 the Cologne Council decision by merchants from Cologne City Council granted permission on the square in front of the Cologne city hall to gather (in the pin alley) from 11 to 13 AM. The meetings took place in a building called “Zum Bolze” until a suitable stock exchange was found. When the weather was bad, the meetings took place in the house of the merchant Hieron Meinau. Since it initially functioned purely as a commodity exchange, it was the oldest commodity exchange in Germany. The exchange business dominated the "stock exchange meetings" that had taken place since 1553, after part of the Antwerp financing and payment transactions had relocated to Cologne. It was not until 1566 that a new building was built in Bolzengasse, and as early as 1580 the stock exchange moved to the centrally located Heumarkt . It was to become the meeting place for merchants for the next 150 years. On March 1, 1596, the exchange participants received immunity from numerous brawls . Arrests within the stock exchange were banned as “in loco privilegiato” (“a privileged place”). The freedom to trade on the stock exchange was supplemented by two further edicts that prohibited betting and stipulated a bell sign for the beginning and end of trading hours. The stock exchange then probably became insignificant, because the stock exchange was not mentioned again until 1730, when a new, fenced-in stock exchange building was built on the Heumarkt.

Heyday

Charles Dupuis - Le Marché au Foin à Cologne (Heumarkt with stock exchange, left), copper engraving, after 1795

Cologne had a strong position as a financial and exchange center, but trading hardly made use of the stock exchange. Since the 18th century the Cologne banks took over the exchange trading from the stock exchange. Cologne was one of the stock exchanges "with bills of exchange, which was predominantly of regional importance and where business with government securities was little or no business". This concentrated more on trade in goods and money. The Cologne Council then had an elaborate new stock exchange building built on the Heumarkt from 1727 to 1730. On the occasion of the inauguration of Mayor Melchior Dittmar von Wittgenstein , the stock exchange was festively illuminated on January 5, 1778.

The Cologne Stock Exchange on Heumarkt (1827)
Share of the Cologne-Bonn Railways

Especially since the beginning of the 19th century, economic development has become more dynamic. A law of March 17, 1801 formed the basis for a Napoleonic founding decree of November 4, 1811 for a Cologne stock exchange during the French era . The efforts of the French occupation to revive stock exchange trading in the countries on the left bank of the Rhine were, however, delayed by the Cologne Chamber of Commerce and Industry . The chambers of commerce participated only after the Napoleonic occupation to develop new perspectives for the left bank of the Rhine. Only after the incorporation of the Rhineland and the city of Cologne into the Kingdom of Prussia on October 1, 1820 was the stock exchange on the Heumarkt able to reopen and its organization was based on the "Regulations for the Internal Police of the Stock Exchange" of January 13, 1813. It In addition to the trading hours, it primarily regulated the activities of brokers and the stock exchange supervisory authority. Syndici served as internal police against so-called "botch brokers". The "Preußisch-Rheinische Dampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft" - predecessor of the Cologne-Düsseldorf Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt (KD) - is said to have been listed on the Cologne stock exchange as early as 1832. This would make KD the oldest continuously listed stock corporation in the world.

Due to the beginning of share trading , the previous building soon turned out to be too small, so that on September 6, 1843, the company moved to the Overstolzenhaus . While in the 1820s as a trading object the rapeseed oil , the dominant issue was met in 1843 the grain trade , since 1847 the Cologne were quotations for the Rhenish markets and even for foreign-determining. A more intensive stock exchange traffic started from 1843, in March 1844 the Kölnische Zeitung reported on the first share price of 131½ of the Cologne-Bonn railways . In 1849, one bank share, 2 industrial shares and 8 railway and insurance shares were traded on the Cologne stock exchange. Before 1850, 12 banks including bill dealers were registered in the Cologne banking center. The Cologne Stock Exchange Regulations issued in 1856 placed the Cologne Stock Exchange under the supervision of the Chamber of Commerce and was the predecessor of the “General German Commercial Code” issued in 1861, today's HGB .

The construction of the railway led to a shift in the focus of production, and the importance of hard coal grew due to easier transport conditions. In 1862 there were new stock exchange regulations for the Cologne stock exchange, in 1870 the first “trading use of the Cologne product exchange” came out, in 1873 a brokerage order followed. The new form of the stock corporation from 1872 proved to be a suitable basis for raising the capital required to build the railway. As a result, the stock exchange system gained in importance. In 1871, the French reparations boosted liquidity and funding opportunities. The money was invested in the start-up boom and invested in new joint stock companies. In 1872 the public threw themselves eagerly on all available securities , with bank stocks , mining , metalworking , ironworks and machine factory stocks being popular. The increasing volume and diversity of customer business urged Cologne's banking system to use the stock exchange more, after the balance of supply and demand was essentially done in the banks without touching the stock exchange. The banks A. Schaaffhausen'scher Bankverein , Sal. Oppenheim , Deichmann & Co. , Bankhaus JH Stein and JL Eitzbacher used the Cologne Stock Exchange to store their customers' shares and bonds , but the Cologne Stock Exchange soon began to specialize as a market for insurance stocks .

The modern stock exchange

Share in the Cologne cotton spinning and weaving mill from January 1, 1856

Two important Cologne bankers, Gustav Mevissen from " Abraham Schaaffhausen 's Bankverein AG" and Abraham Oppenheim , were involved in the Darmstädter Bank , which was founded on November 12, 1852 . This institute should focus more on the issue and acquisition of securities, the start-up business and the financing of large industrial projects, particularly railways. Thereupon, on January 1, 1873, official share trading began hesitantly at the Cologne stock exchange and concentrated on local market values: " Kölner Bergwerks-Verein ", " Kölnische Maschinenbau ", "Kölnische cottonspinnerei und Weberei", two Cologne banks , several Cologne insurance companies, Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft and the Cologne-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft . From 1873 securities were admitted to official trading in Cologne.

The stock exchange had to move again, on October 18, 1875 to the ground floor of the Gürzenich, which was specially converted for this purpose . In 1887 Albert von Oppenheim , Emilie Deslandes and Victor Popp founded the French company “Compagnie Parisienne de l'Air Comprimé” (Parisian Compressed Air Company) with a start-up capital of 3.2 million francs, which soon fell into a corporate crisis. The situation worsened when two French engineers examined the company in March 1891. Your report started a chain reaction. The "Comptoir National d'Escompte", whose financial participation the founders had hoped, therefore decided not to exercise its option right of 6.8 million francs - a dramatic signal for the stock exchange. On May 21, 1891, the rumor arose that “a first Cologne bank was in trouble”. It was the alleged impending insolvency of Sal. Oppenheim. As a result, the Cologne Stock Exchange experienced a black day. There was also talk of the imminent disaster of the Oppenheim Bank in other financial centers , notably in Berlin. But the bank survived the troubled times. The stock exchange list from 1898 listed 51 domestic and foreign funds, 25 bank and 28 insurance shares as well as 50 mining and smelter shares.

In 1913, Oppenheim introduced Basalt AG shares as the first security in the new paving and hard stone industry on the Berlin and Cologne stock exchanges. The Cologne Stock Exchange Board reorganized business transactions on the basis of stock exchange regulations issued on July 24, 1916. After the First World War , trading on the stock exchange was resumed on January 1, 1918, but rising inflation also left its mark on the stock market. In 1921 the Cologne Stock Exchange expanded the Board of Directors to a total of 11 members due to the increased business volume. Along with the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the Cologne trading center became a place where the Reich currency was exchanged for foreign exchange because foreign capital flowed into the Rhineland. As a result, the liquidity of the Cologne stock exchange increased considerably, so that the stock exchange moved from the Gürzenich to a new building it financed itself on June 20, 1922. In 1923, when Stadtsparkasse Köln was admitted to the Cologne Stock Exchange, a German savings bank was first admitted to the stock exchange. During the inflation of 1923 the rate of the US dollar reached a high of 11 trillion marks on the Cologne stock exchange on November 26, 1923 - despite the exchange rate fixing on November 20, 1923. From 1926 Cologne developed into the leading stock exchange for mining industry stocks in Germany. But the Cologne foreign exchange exchange also gained in importance for supplying the West German export and import industry.

Last move

After the storm of counters (triggered by the " Darmstädter und Nationalbank ") and the subsequent banking crisis closed on July 13, 1931, the Cologne Stock Exchange moved into the new administration building erected by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry on the Cologne banking mile " Under Sachsenhausen 4 "around. The inauguration took place on September 30, 1932, which was also attended by the Cologne banker Louis Hagen . Hagen suffered a stroke the same evening and died on October 1, 1932. On January 1, 1935, securities trading was transferred to the "Rheinisch-Westfälische Börse" in Düsseldorf together with the Essen stock exchange. Immediately after the Second World War , the Board of Directors decided to resume trading in goods. For this purpose, the new building of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which was handed over on February 4, 1952, was built in a U-shape around the stock exchange hall with a glass roof so that product trading could take place in daylight. Every Friday up to 700 visitors to the stock exchange met in the hall and telephoned their customers after the prices were quoted. Modern communication technology has displaced floor trading more and more, so that weekly meetings no longer take place. Since then, the Cologne Stock Exchange has concentrated on the items of trade with which it began in the Middle Ages: In addition to grain and animal feed, the prices for eggs, potatoes, hay and straw as well as peat are determined. Since February 2, 2007, the Cologne Stock Exchange is no longer part of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, but operates under the name “Rheinische Warenbörse e. V. “as a registered association .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Heinz Bremer, Fundamentals of German and Foreign Stock Exchange Law , 1969, p. 13 ff.
  2. ^ Rainer Gömmel / Hans Pohl, Deutsche Börsengeschichte , 1992, p. 44.
  3. ^ Karl Heinrich Kaufhold, The transition to fund and exchange stock exchanges from the late 17th century to the late 18th century , in: H. Pohl (Ed.), Deutsche Börsengeschichte , 1992, pp. 90 ff.
  4. ↑ Lothar Groß, Made in Germany: Germany's Economic History from Industrialization to Today , 2013, p. 154.
  5. ^ A b Hermann Aubin / Wolfgang Zorn, Handbook of German Economic and Social History: The 19th and 20th Century , 1976, p. 423.
  6. ^ A b Alfred Krüger, Das Kölner Bankiergewerbe from the end of the 18th century to 1875 , 1925, p. 102.
  7. ^ F. Steiner Verlag, Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte , Volumes 27–28, 1982, p. 96.
  8. ↑ Peter Fuchs, Chronicle of the History of the City of Cologne , Volume 2, 1991, p. 153.
  9. ^ Rainer Gömmel / Hans Pohl, Deutsche Börsengeschichte , 1992, p. 195.
  10. ↑ Michael Stürmer / Gabriele Teichmann / Wilhelm Treue, Wagen und Wagen , 1989, p. 297.
  11. ↑ The London Times even reported on this on May 22, 1891
  12. ↑ The history of the Düsseldorf Stock Exchange from the end of the Middle Ages to modern times . Düsseldorf Stock Exchange, accessed on January 11, 2017.
  13. ↑ Harald Winkel, Financial and Economic Policy Issues of the Interwar Period , 1973, p. 31.