The bill of exchange has a long history as a general instrument for monetary transactions. The main financial centers made wide use of this tool. The prerequisites were a functioning banking system as an intermediary, as well as a legal framework for bill of exchange transactions. Although...

In June 2017, in the negotiations between Greece, the European Union and its Member States, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, it was decided that the highly-indebted country in Europe's southern periphery should receive an additional disbursement of 8.5 billion...

The relationship of companies in the maritime economy to banks has been neglected by researchers. While this is surprising, specific financing techniques in ship financing can be found. In addition, the topic has a high degree of currency: the relationship of shipping companies and shipyards to...

The history of the German cooperative banks has enjoyed renewed attention in recent years. This applies specifically to the current cen-tral cooperative bank, DZ BANK, whose origin lies in the Prussian Central Cooperative Bank (‹Preußenkasse›) founded in 1895. What previous research has in...

Despite the recent increase in research on the history of the system of German cooperative banks, the middle tier of the three-level cooperative system has remained a blind spot. The lack of sources has been alleviated by the discovery of the long forgotten archive collection I. HA, Rep. 177 of...

Two features of the history of Hamburg as a financial centre are of particular interest from the perspective of a central bank: The estab-lishment of Hamburger Bank in 1619 as a proto-central bank and the handling of two liquidity or financial crises in the 19th century. Hamburger Bank provided...

The Hamburg banking sector experienced considerable structural changes in the period from 1850 until into the 1930s. Around 1856 and 1870, a large number of new banks were founded, mostly in the form of stock corporations. Starting in the 1890s, the banking center saw a consolidation with...

The German financial system rests on three distinct pillars - this position has been widely accepted among bank historians. However, this view neglects another important pillar, namely the financial institutions under the rule and control of state authorities. The following article aims to...