the world of private banking
the world of private banking
the world of private banking
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202<br />
THE WORLD OF PRIVAtE BANKING<br />
Writing in 1921, Pietro Palumbo confirmed that <strong>the</strong> banker was ‘in a fairly<br />
favourable position in relation to competition with <strong>the</strong> banks. Many operations<br />
could be performed by him alone, and once he had managed to set up around himself<br />
an environment <strong>of</strong> trust and esteem, <strong>the</strong> capitalists, merchants and industrialists<br />
found it easier to apply to him than to a <strong>banking</strong> institute’. 68 This statement may<br />
appear paradoxical, but it highlights a certain truth which <strong>the</strong> financial historian<br />
has taken little account <strong>of</strong>. Only in much more recent times have a handful <strong>of</strong><br />
studies begun to consider as essential to <strong>the</strong> training <strong>of</strong> a banker that set <strong>of</strong> personal<br />
and pr<strong>of</strong>essional values that are functional to <strong>the</strong> consolidation <strong>of</strong> his business, 69<br />
encouraging a different way <strong>of</strong> observing <strong>the</strong> <strong>world</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>private</strong> bankers. Then<br />
<strong>the</strong>re is ano<strong>the</strong>r element that provides indirect confirmation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> pregnancy <strong>of</strong><br />
such observations. The opening <strong>of</strong> a branch <strong>of</strong> a mixed bank in a city, which on<br />
more than one occasion took place through <strong>the</strong> acquisition <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> control and <strong>the</strong>n<br />
<strong>the</strong> takeover <strong>of</strong> a leading local <strong>banking</strong> house, should be interpreted not so much<br />
and not only as <strong>the</strong> inevitable victory <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> giant over <strong>the</strong> financial pygmy, but<br />
ra<strong>the</strong>r as a tangible recognition – which was frequently also formalised through <strong>the</strong><br />
assignment <strong>of</strong> management positions – <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> role <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>private</strong> banker in paving<br />
<strong>the</strong> way for <strong>the</strong> new, powerful bank entity. We can consider <strong>the</strong> case <strong>of</strong> Credito<br />
Italiano (certainly not an isolated case, a more pr<strong>of</strong>ound study would be certain<br />
to bring out a string <strong>of</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r viable examples) which opened its Naples branch in<br />
1905 after having taken over <strong>the</strong> Meuricr<strong>of</strong>fe house, entrusting <strong>the</strong> management<br />
to John Meuricr<strong>of</strong>fe, <strong>the</strong> last descendant <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> family <strong>of</strong> Swiss origins that had<br />
founded <strong>the</strong> <strong>banking</strong> company towards <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> eighteenth century. 70<br />
On <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand, if we take even a swift glimpse beyond <strong>the</strong> outbreak <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
First World War that marks <strong>the</strong> implicit temporal horizon <strong>of</strong> this contribution, we<br />
can note elements that confirm <strong>the</strong> notion <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>private</strong> banker’s enhanced capacity<br />
to ‘intercept’ – or at least to be <strong>the</strong> first to do so – a certain type <strong>of</strong> demand, such as<br />
that emerging from <strong>the</strong> more complex articulation <strong>of</strong> Italian society that was partly<br />
coincidental and partly a direct consequence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> conflict and <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> phenomena<br />
<strong>of</strong> enrichment permitted by <strong>the</strong> particular conditions in which business was<br />
performed. This possibly explains <strong>the</strong> substantial stability in <strong>the</strong> number <strong>of</strong> <strong>private</strong><br />
bankers in <strong>the</strong> decade 1913–24, but also <strong>the</strong> growth <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> war years which brought<br />
<strong>the</strong> figures for <strong>the</strong> seven major financial centres <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> country back to <strong>the</strong> levels <strong>of</strong><br />
1896. As against this, precisely <strong>the</strong> greater complexity <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> requirements <strong>of</strong> this<br />
new clientele, and above all <strong>the</strong> combination <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se with <strong>the</strong> greater restraints<br />
and controls introduced by <strong>the</strong> political and monetary authorities in <strong>the</strong> 1920s<br />
and 1930s, help to explain <strong>the</strong> literally vertical plunge that <strong>the</strong> <strong>private</strong> bankers<br />
experienced in <strong>the</strong> years leading up to <strong>the</strong> new <strong>banking</strong> law, issued in 1936.<br />
68<br />
Palumbo, Banchieri privati, p. 14.<br />
69<br />
Maifreda, La costruzione di un rapporto fiduciario; Maifreda, Banchieri ebrei;<br />
Garruccio, Otto Joel alla Banca Generale, pp. 159–99.<br />
70<br />
B. Gruber-Meuricr<strong>of</strong>fe, Die Familie Meuricr<strong>of</strong>fe in Neapel, s. l., 1970, pp. 29–32.