ABSTRACT
On 24 March 1993 Daimler-Benz AG announced that it had reached an agreement about accounting practices with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. This agreement enabled the corporation to be the first German firm to directly list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, beginning 5 October 1993. German relationship banking has long been a strong alternative to the Walrasian, transactions-based capital markets of the Anglo-American countries. The idealized model of German finance has nine elements, each one of which distinguishes German finance from post-1930s American finance. Foremost in the idealized picture is that every German bank envisions itself as though it were Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank. While long-term bank loans remain the most important source of external finance for German firms, retained earnings are and have always been the greatest source of investment finance overall. Germany can be seen as the prototype of what may be called a “members only” financial system.
