the world of private banking
the world of private banking
the world of private banking
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88<br />
THE WORLD OF PRIVAtE BANKING<br />
<strong>the</strong> British & Californian which, although promoted by <strong>the</strong> London Financial,<br />
had subsequently become involved with <strong>the</strong> burgeoning ‘three continents’ bank.<br />
Among <strong>the</strong> new London-based overseas banks only <strong>the</strong> Agra was reconstituted<br />
after <strong>the</strong> crisis and solely as an ‘Anglo-Indian’ bank. This was undertaken by <strong>the</strong><br />
important London and Manchester accountant, David Chadwick, who also put<br />
new, post-crisis life into two domestic banks: <strong>the</strong> Consolidated and <strong>the</strong> Preston. 63<br />
From <strong>the</strong> 1830s, British corporate overseas banks had interconnections arising<br />
from interlocking directorships. One responsible but particular factor was <strong>the</strong><br />
interests that various partners in a London <strong>private</strong> bank, Glyn, Mills, took in <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
creation, beginning with <strong>the</strong> Union Bank <strong>of</strong> Australia formed in 1837. Thereafter,<br />
members <strong>of</strong> this Lombard Street house were involved in <strong>the</strong> Bank <strong>of</strong> Egypt<br />
(1855/6), <strong>the</strong> Ottoman (1856, a progenitor <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Imperial Ottoman Bank <strong>of</strong> 1862),<br />
<strong>the</strong> London & Brazilian (1862), <strong>the</strong> Anglo-Austrian (1863) and <strong>the</strong> Imperial Bank<br />
<strong>of</strong> Persia (1889). City associates <strong>of</strong> Glyn, Mills, in turn, promoted <strong>the</strong> Anglo-Italian<br />
(1864), <strong>the</strong> ‘<strong>private</strong>’ London & San Francisco (1865), <strong>the</strong> Bank <strong>of</strong> Roumania (1866),<br />
<strong>the</strong> German Bank <strong>of</strong> London (1871), <strong>the</strong> Mercantile Bank <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> River Plate (1872),<br />
<strong>the</strong> Banque de Constantinople (1872) and <strong>the</strong> English Bank <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> River Plate<br />
(1881). 64 These instances are indicative <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> broader, general interest that <strong>private</strong><br />
City houses as a whole took in <strong>the</strong> new overseas corporate banks, which went<br />
beyond supplying prestigious and decorative directors for <strong>the</strong>ir prospectuses. It was<br />
in complete contrast to any involvement with new domestic corporate banks, <strong>the</strong><br />
only significant exception being <strong>the</strong> ‘City’ directorate <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Imperial. Fur<strong>the</strong>rmore,<br />
in some cases, <strong>private</strong> <strong>banking</strong>’s interrelationships with British-based corporate<br />
overseas <strong>banking</strong> involved not only City personalities but also European ‘Haute<br />
Finance’. With respect to <strong>the</strong> Imperial Ottoman, this arose from <strong>the</strong> compromise<br />
amalgamation <strong>of</strong> competing syndicates for <strong>the</strong> concession, leading to <strong>the</strong> bank’s<br />
having management bases in Constantinople and Paris as well as London. In o<strong>the</strong>r<br />
instances, members <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> City drew directly upon <strong>the</strong>ir respective European<br />
networks, resulting in, for instance, <strong>the</strong> German Bisch<strong>of</strong>fsheim’s involvement in<br />
<strong>the</strong> London & Brazilian, <strong>the</strong> London & San Francisco (plus J. May and R. Sulzbach<br />
(Frankfurt) and C. Griswold (Paris)), <strong>the</strong> Mercantile Bank <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> River Plate (along<br />
with Paribas, H. Oppenheim, Louis d’Erlanger and Louis Beer), Société Générale<br />
63<br />
Bankers’ Magazine (1866), pp. 1324, 1325; Baster, International Banks, pp. 42–3,<br />
158, 246; D.S. Landes, Bankers and Pashas (London, 1958), pp. 244, 290, 292; and Cottrell,<br />
Investment Banking, I, pp. 408–9. For Chadwick, see P.L. Cottrell, ‘David Chadwick’, in D.<br />
Jeremy (ed.), Dictionary <strong>of</strong> Business Biography, I (London, 1984).<br />
64<br />
A.S.J. Baster, ‘The Origins <strong>of</strong> British Banking Expansion in <strong>the</strong> Near East’, in<br />
Economic History Review, vol. 5, 1934/5; idem, International Banks, pp. 95, 99, 112–19,<br />
158; D. Joslin, A Century <strong>of</strong> Banking in Latin America (Oxford, 1963), pp. 64–5; P.L.<br />
Cottrell, ‘London Financiers and Austria 1863–1875: <strong>the</strong> Anglo-Austrian Bank’, in Business<br />
History, vol. 11, 1969; and idem, ‘The Coalescence <strong>of</strong> a Cluster <strong>of</strong> Corporate International<br />
Banks, 1855–75’, in G. Jones (ed.), Banks and Money: International and Comparative<br />
Finance in History (London, 1991).