North German Bank

The Norddeutsche Bank was an independently existing regional bank based in Hamburg from 1856 until the merger with Disconto-Gesellschaft in 1895 . At that time it was the largest credit institute in the Hanseatic city. Despite the merger, both companies initially existed side by side. In 1929 Disconto-Gesellschaft and Norddeutsche Bank were merged into Deutsche Bank .

history

In July 1855 a founding committee submitted an application to the Hamburg Senate to found a joint stock bank . In addition to other business activities, the issuing of private banknotes was also planned . The Senate rejected this proposal. Further attempts to found the company were rejected by the finance deputation because of the intended issue of its own banknotes. After the Vereinsbank was founded in 1856 , which refrained from issuing banknotes, the founders of the Norddeutsche Bank also gave up this part. The bank was then founded on October 15, 1856.

The most important line of business was initially issuing bonds . In addition to bonds from German states, there were also bonds from Scandinavian countries. Since 1866 the bank was also active in the industrial business. The bank was involved in the founding of the Norddeutsche Affinerie (1866), the United Königs- and Laurahütte (1871) and the Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG (1873). The bank was one of the first to overcome the crash of the 1870s.

Numerous private bankers were among the founders and supervisory boards, but the business community was also well represented. Eight companies / merchants provided the founding capital of approx. 5 million Mark Banco : the bank Salomon Heine 1.3 million, HJ Merck & Co. 0.8 million, Paul Mendelssohn-Bartholdy 0.7 million, JC Godeffroy & Sohn , Tesdorpf & Sohn , Ross Vidal & Co. , Robert Kayser , Ferdinand Jacobson each 0.5 million Mark Banco. The first director was Joseph Beschütz, previously head of the Paul Mendelssohn-Bartholdy banking house. In the 1870s and 1890s, respectively, Rudoph Petersen and Johann B. Schroeder, who came from leading families in Hamburg, were appointed directors. The chairman of the supervisory board was Gustav Godeffroy from 1856 to 1893 , who essentially determined the fortunes of the Norddeutsche Bank.

Most of the shares related to shipping were issued by the Norddeutsche Bank. In particular, the bank had been of great importance for HAPAG since the 1880s , but also for Adolph Woermann and other shipping companies.

In 1894, Norddeutsche Bank became a limited partner of the Hanover- based banking house Ephraim Meyer & Sohn , with whom it has worked closely since then.

In addition, she worked with Disconto-Gesellschaft to finance industrial projects, particularly in the Ruhr area. In other areas too, there was soon close cooperation with the discount company. Finally, the two companies merged in 1895. Until then, it was the most important Hamburg stock bank. Its directors sat on the central committee of the Reichsbank and it was represented in the Prussian consortium much earlier than Commerzbank .

The form of the merger was unusual in that both banks remained formally largely independent afterwards. Norddeutsche Bank was transformed into a limited partnership based on shares. The shares themselves were owned by the Disconto-Gesellschaft. Nevertheless, the bank was now directly dependent on the parent company, as four of the five business owners came from Disconto-Gesellschaft after the merger. Among them was Adolph von Hansemann . Conversely, the previous first director of the Norddeutsche Bank, Max von Schinckel, joined the Disconto-Gesellschaft as a business owner.

It was not until 1929 that the bank disappeared in the run-up to the banking crisis when Disconto-Gesellschaft merged with Deutsche Bank.

literature

Morten Reitmeyer: Bankers in the Empire. Social profile and habitus of German high finance. Göttingen 1999, ISBN 978-3-525-35799-6 .
Henry Wulff: North German Bank in Hamburg 1856–1906 . Eckstein, Berlin approx. 1906. Digitized. Retrieved February 25, 2015 . , Munich Digitization Center, digital library.

Web links

Individual evidence

^ Carsten Burhop: The credit banks in the early days. Writings of the Institute for Bank History Research, Volume 21, Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 978-3-515-08413-0 , p. 87.
^ Peter Schulze : Bankhaus Ephraim Meyer & Son. In: Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar R. Röhrbein (eds.) U. a .: City Lexicon Hanover . From the beginning to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 2009, ISBN 978-3-89993-662-9 , p. 47.

[1] Carsten Burhop: The credit banks in the early days. Writings of the Institute for Bank History Research, Volume 21, Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 978-3-515-08413-0 , p. 87.

[2] Peter Schulze : Bankhaus Ephraim Meyer & Son. In: Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar R. Röhrbein (eds.) U. a .: City Lexicon Hanover . From the beginning to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 2009, ISBN 978-3-89993-662-9 , p. 47.