the world of private banking
the world of private banking
the world of private banking
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244<br />
THE WORLD OF PRIVAtE BANKING<br />
We could easily continue <strong>the</strong> description <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>world</strong> <strong>of</strong> Protestant <strong>banking</strong><br />
in <strong>the</strong> towns <strong>of</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r non-Protestant countries <strong>of</strong> Europe: in Italy, in Portugal, in<br />
Spain. In lieu <strong>of</strong> a complete map <strong>of</strong> all <strong>the</strong> towns where Protestant commercial<br />
and <strong>banking</strong> activities can be made out, we have been able to address one <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> localities where Swiss merchants and bankers were present at <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
eighteenth century. We find <strong>the</strong>m between Lisbon and Cadiz in <strong>the</strong> south-west and<br />
Moscow and Petersburg in <strong>the</strong> north-east as well as from Bergen and London in<br />
<strong>the</strong> north-west to Constantinople and Smyrna in <strong>the</strong> south-east. 28<br />
Outlook on <strong>the</strong> Nineteenth Century<br />
Some <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Protestant <strong>banking</strong> firms we have spoken about went bankrupt during<br />
<strong>the</strong> French Revolution and <strong>the</strong> Napoleonic Wars. But some <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m not only<br />
passed through <strong>the</strong>se troubles intact, but were even able by simple opportunity or<br />
progressive conviction to adapt <strong>the</strong>mselves to <strong>the</strong> political and economic change<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> period. That is <strong>the</strong> reason why in 1798 <strong>the</strong> most important Protestant banks<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> vanishing Ancien Régime continued <strong>the</strong>ir activities. One <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m was Jean<br />
Conrad Hottinguer, a banker from Zurich, who after having got his training at <strong>the</strong><br />
‘Passavent, de Candolle and Bertrand & Co’ firm at Geneva, arrived at Paris in<br />
1780. In 1794 he left France for three years for some trade and <strong>banking</strong> business<br />
in <strong>the</strong> United States <strong>of</strong> America. When he came back to Paris in 1798, he founded<br />
<strong>the</strong> ‘Hottinguer & Co.’ bank and immediately opened branches at Le Havre and<br />
o<strong>the</strong>r French ports. He became a financial counsellor <strong>of</strong> Talleyrand and is known<br />
as one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> first regents <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Banque de France.<br />
Ano<strong>the</strong>r Swiss Protestant banker in Paris, Jean-Frédéric Perregaux from<br />
Neuchâtel, acted during <strong>the</strong> French Revolution, with his ‘Perregaux & Co.’ firm<br />
founded in 1786, as banker <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Comité de Salut Public. He also brought his<br />
financial support to <strong>the</strong> Directoire until its last days and played a fur<strong>the</strong>r important<br />
role in <strong>the</strong> early political and financial actions <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Consulate. Having actively<br />
participated in <strong>the</strong> creation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Banque d’Escompte in Paris in 1776, he also<br />
became in 1800 one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> first shareholders <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Banque de France. After his<br />
death in 1808, <strong>the</strong> bank changed to ‘Banque Perregaux, Laffite & Cie.’ and was<br />
to remain on a high rank among <strong>the</strong> Haute Banque in Paris toge<strong>the</strong>r with o<strong>the</strong>r<br />
Protestant banks <strong>of</strong> mainly Huguenot and Swiss origin, such as ‘Mallet Frère<br />
& Cie’, ‘Sartoris & Cie’ and also ‘Hottinguer & Co.’, which after <strong>the</strong> Bourbon<br />
28<br />
L. Bergeron, ‘Pourtalès & Cie (1753–1801): apogée et déclin d’un capitalisme’,<br />
in Annales. Economies, Sociétés, Civilisations, vol. 25, 1970, pp. 498–517; Veyrassat,<br />
Négociants; C. Aubert, Les De la Rüe marchands, magistrats et banquiers, Genève, Gênes<br />
1556–1905 (Lausanne, 1984); N. Röthlin, ‘Ein Blick auf die Bezugs- und Absatzgebiete<br />
des schweizerischen Grosshandels anhand einiger Bilanzen aus dem 18. Jahrhundert’,<br />
in P. Bairoch et al. (eds), Die Schweiz in der Weltwirtschaft / La Suisse dans l’économie<br />
mondiale (Zurich, 1990).