Austrian Banks at the Zenith of Power and Influence

Abstract

As early as the 19th century, discretion, secrecy and a carefully directed accounting policy belonged to the “virtues” of Austrian banks. This may have simplified business activity, but it has cast up extraordinary difficulties for the historian mapping out the history of Austria’s banking system. The “tangible”, the „factual” or what the banks called facts, has long since been available, a larger number of works on this topic appearing between the World Wars¹. Apart from a very few exceptions², more recent publications have, strictly speaking, failed to top this level of knowledge. The cause of this may be looked for in a predilection for description and, incident thereto, in the relatively slight penetration of the history of banking in Austria. It may therefore be worth trying to pick up the thread of the discussion prior to the Second World War, which focussed above all on the question of the “power” of the banks. Furthermore, the question may also be asked whether the largely cut-and-dried periodization of economic history corresponds with Austrian banking history. The First World War was a turning point in many respects, but was it one where the history of banking is concerned?