the world of private banking
the world of private banking
the world of private banking
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
PRIVAtE BANKS AND INDUStRy 211<br />
Social studies<br />
Finally, research may benefit from <strong>the</strong> Oppenheim records concerning <strong>the</strong> wide<br />
field <strong>of</strong> social studies. One important topic is certainly that <strong>of</strong> social rise and social<br />
mobility: <strong>the</strong> founder <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> bank grew up in <strong>the</strong> Jewish ghetto <strong>of</strong> Bonn while his<br />
heirs rose to <strong>the</strong> ranks <strong>of</strong> nobility in <strong>the</strong> 1860s. Ano<strong>the</strong>r subject comprises <strong>the</strong> history<br />
<strong>of</strong> Jewish emancipation and assimilation in <strong>the</strong> nineteenth century. The archive also<br />
provides us with records that may help to assess <strong>the</strong> mentality and lifestyle <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
bourgeois class, its charitable commitments and its political attitudes.<br />
For a business in family ownership like <strong>the</strong> Oppenheim Bank, <strong>the</strong> whole<br />
sphere <strong>of</strong> family relations is an important topic. Did <strong>the</strong> Oppenheims pursue any<br />
marriage strategies? To what extent were family ties inside and outside Cologne<br />
used for business purposes? This leads on to <strong>the</strong> subject <strong>of</strong> personal networks in<br />
general. Who were <strong>the</strong> persons <strong>the</strong> Oppenheims cooperated with regularly, and on<br />
which projects? It is known, for instance, that <strong>the</strong>y used <strong>the</strong>ir influence to have<br />
business friends voted into <strong>the</strong> management <strong>of</strong> industrial companies which would<br />
give <strong>the</strong>m access to insider information. 10<br />
Personal networks also played a decisive role in risk management, as a<br />
forthcoming dissertation based to some extent on <strong>the</strong> records <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Oppenheim<br />
Archive will show. 11 Hence <strong>the</strong> assessment <strong>of</strong> risks did not, in <strong>the</strong> end, rest on<br />
rational analysis <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> market, <strong>of</strong> technologies etc., but on a common code <strong>of</strong><br />
bourgeois values shared by <strong>the</strong> decision-makers in <strong>banking</strong> and industry. The<br />
trustworthiness <strong>of</strong> potential partners did not necessarily depend on <strong>the</strong>ir wealth but<br />
on <strong>the</strong>ir connection with or recommendation by <strong>the</strong> right kind <strong>of</strong> people. 12 Thus,<br />
<strong>the</strong> assessment <strong>of</strong> character plays an ever-recurring role in <strong>the</strong> correspondence <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> Oppenheim bankers. Crucial business situations were also <strong>of</strong>ten assessed from<br />
a psychological point <strong>of</strong> view. For example, just after <strong>the</strong> establishment <strong>of</strong> a new<br />
company <strong>the</strong> Oppenheim bankers wrote to o<strong>the</strong>r shareholders that it should be<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir first and foremost aim to create public trust in <strong>the</strong> new firm and <strong>the</strong>refore cut<br />
down on <strong>the</strong>ir expectations <strong>of</strong> quick pr<strong>of</strong>its for a while. 13<br />
We have attempted to show that <strong>the</strong> Oppenheim Archive is a valuable source <strong>of</strong><br />
information on <strong>the</strong> industrialization <strong>of</strong> western Germany, on <strong>the</strong> interplay between<br />
<strong>the</strong> emergence <strong>of</strong> industries and <strong>the</strong> development <strong>of</strong> financing tools and strategies<br />
and on <strong>the</strong> history <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> upper bourgeois class in <strong>the</strong> nineteenth century. Access<br />
policy is handled liberally.<br />
10<br />
Tilly, Financial Institutions, p. 107.<br />
11<br />
Monika Pohle, author <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> dissertation, has already dealt with this problem in her<br />
article ‘Risk, Onformation and Noise: Risk Perception and Risk Management <strong>of</strong> French<br />
and German Banks during <strong>the</strong> Nineteenth Century’, in Financial History Review, vol. 2, 1,<br />
1995, pp. 25–39.<br />
12<br />
Tilly, Financial Institutions, p. 85.<br />
13<br />
Oppenheim Archives, Nr 194, letter by Abraham Oppenheim to Regierungsrat Ritz,<br />
15 October 1839.