ABSTRACT
On 27 March 1878, W. A. Michael, the secretary of the International Financial Society, gave evidence to the Royal Commission on the London Stock Exchange, the only representative of a 'city' institution outside the 'house' to do so. The International Financial Society became involved with several firms in the Bjorneborg district which had during the 1860s mainly exported wood to the Mediterranean region. The formal agreement between the Society and William and Carl Rosenlew, the partners in the Bjornebourg Saw Mill, was drawn up on 12 May 1875. In financing apart of the Anglo-Finnish timber trade, the International Financial Society had found fortuitously a source of profits which during the mid-1870s helped to cushion them during the decline of the foreign loan boom. The International Financial Society during the boom of the early 1880s continued to operate on the London Stock Exchange, provided occasional medium term loans, and acted either as an issuing house or as a participant in syndicates.
