ABSTRACT
The German creditbanks may be said to have originated in the fifties of the last century. The small private bankers—the most numerous class—were engaged principally in money changing, supplemented, especially in towns like Frankfurt a. M., by dealings in public securities. The great bankers, of the Rothschild type, were occupied with the financial needs of the more important governments and stood aloof from struggling business concerns. The years 1888 and 1889 constituted the first period of real prosperity and trade expansion since the Gründerjahre. Then in 1895 began a remarkably long boom, which lasted until the beginning of the new century and established Germany as an industrial power. The growth of the creditbanks in function and organization more than filled all the gaps in the German credit system. The savings banks also had a special field, though they in their turn felt and resented the encroachment of the creditbanks in the sphere of deposit banking.
