The European Association for Banking and Financial History (''eabh'') is an independent,

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

association based in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian dialects, Hessian: , "Franks, Frank ford (crossing), ford on the Main (river), Main"), is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as o ...

. Founded in 1990, the eabh aims to promote research on banking history; support the preservation historically valuable archive material of public and private banking institutions; and facilitate dialogue on key challenges and opportunities to the historical study of finance,

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

, and

globalization Globalization, or globalisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences), is the process of foreign relation ...

. It maintains a global network of financial professionals and academics who meet to discuss and encourage projects in the field of financial and banking history. The ''eabh'' currently has 80 member organisations.

Foundation

The European Association for Banking History e.V. (''eabh'') was founded on 29 November 1990 in an inaugural meeting at the premises of

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...

, in Frankfurt am Main, by 22 banking institutions and one academic institution from 20 European countries. Manfred Pohl, German business historian and head of ‘Historisches Institut der Deutschen Bank’ (1972–2000), was the responsible for the creation of the forum that could lead to the foundation of the ''eabh''. During the ‘European Colloquium on Banking History’ held in Frankfurt on 9 February 1989 Pohl launched the idea of creating an association for banking history and decided to gather European scholars and banking institutions’ archivists in a working group to draft the first statutes. Other members of the first ''eabh'' Board of Management were Wilfried Guth, chairman of the Board of Patrons;

Sir Evelyn de Rothschild Sir Evelyn Robert Adrian de Rothschild (29 August 1931 – 7 November 2022) was a British financier and a member of the Rothschild family. Early life Evelyn de Rothschild was born on 29 August 1931. The son of Anthony Gustav de Rothschild ( ...

, chairman;

Herman Van der Wee Herman Frans Anna baron Van der Wee (born 10 July 1928) is a Belgian economic historian. He was a full professor of social and economic history at the KU Leuven from 1969 to 1993. The academic output of Van der Wee spans economic history, the hi ...

, Chairman of the Academic Advisory Council; Pedro Martinez Mendez, Treasurer and Robert Lion, Member. Then president of

De Nederlandsche Bank De Nederlandsche Bank NV (DNB) is the central bank of the Netherlands. Founded by King William I in 1814, it is part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). De Nederlandsche Bank is a public limited company ( Dutch: '' naamloze vennoot ...

Wim Duisenberg Willem Frederik "Wim" Duisenberg (; 9 July 1935 – 31 July 2005) was a Dutch politician and economist who served as President of the European Central Bank from 1 June 1998 until 31 October 2003. He was a member of the Labour Party (PvdA). D ...

, opens the first annual eabh conference, ‘How to Write the History of a Bank’ on 16 September 1992. Two members of the ''eabh'', Youssef Cassis and Philip L. Cottrell, subsequently begin the organisation's dedicated

academic journal An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and ...

, the '' Financial History Review''. On 7 December 2000, the ''eabh'' celebrates its 10th anniversary at a

symposium, 'Banking in the Mirror of Time’. On 28 May 2004 the Association conducted a general survey in the 15th General Members’ Meeting and decided to change its name to ''eabh'' (European Association for Banking and Financial History e.V.), as a commitment to embracing financial history in a wider sense. The founding members of the eabh board established the organization of 22 banks in 11 European countries. In 2018, the ''eabh'' welcomed its first member institution on the African continent, the

Banco de Moçambique The Bank of Mozambique ( pt, Banco de Moçambique) is the central bank of Mozambique. The bank does not function as a commercial bank, and has the responsibility of governing the monetary policies of the country. The president of the Republic appo ...

Organization chart

The General Members' Assembly is the supreme organ of the association and meets yearly. The ''eabh'' is governed by the Board of Management and advised by the Board of Patrons and the Academic Council. It has as well a General Secretariat, neuralgic centre of the ''eabh'' in charge of implementation, management and coordination of all the initiatives organised by the association and with seat in Frankfurt. The Secretary General acts as Executive Manager of the Association. The Association's founder Manfred Pohl was Deputy Chairman of the Board of Management since 1990 and was elected Honorary Chairman for life in 2015. The ''eabh'' publishes studies and conference papers. It also organises numerous conferences, academic symposia, workshops and seminars in various European towns and locations. Every year they hold a main conference in which archivists, historians and representatives of the financial community from all over Europe come together to discuss matters of common interest. Past presidents of the organization include: * 1990:

, N M Rothschilds & Sons * 2004:

President of the European Central Bank The president of the European Central Bank is the head of the European Central Bank (ECB), the main institution responsible for the management of the euro and monetary policy in the Eurozone of the European Union (EU). The current president of ...

* 2006:

Jean-Claude Trichet Jean-Claude Trichet (; born 20 December 1942) is a French economist who served as President of the European Central Bank from 2003 to 2011. Previous to his assumption of the presidency he served as Governor of the Bank of France from 1993 to 20 ...

* 2012: Hugo Bänziger, (

International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signa ...

) Past Chairman of the eabh Academic Advisory Council include: * 1990:

, University of Leuven * 1998: Gabriel Tortella Casares, University of Alcalá, Madrid * 2004: Gerald D. Feldman,

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

* 2008: Peter Hertner,

University of Halle-Wittenberg Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university in ...

* 2013: Harold James,

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...

Activities

Publications

The main publication of the ''eabh'' is the triannual ''Financial History Review'' (''FHR''), published in tandem with

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambr ...

. Founded in 1994, the ''FHR'' is the sole

dedicaetd to financial, banking and monetary history. It regulately publishes original research that discus the intersections of

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

, finance,

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public ...

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these grou ...

, and

society A society is a Social group, group of individuals involved in persistent Social relation, social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same Politics, political authority an ...

. Alongside the ''FHR'', the ''eabh'' publishes a working paper series (since 2014), a book series, and a bulletin.

Conferences

The ''eabh'' hosts a number of conferences and workshops designed to bring together academics and scholars of financial and banking history. Often these conferences are co-sponsored with other

non-profits A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

business organizations A business entity is an entity that is formed and administered as per corporate law in order to engage in business activities, charitable work, or other activities allowable. Most often, business entities are formed to sell a product or a serv ...

corporations A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...

, central banks, or

commercial banks A commercial bank is a financial institution Financial institutions, sometimes called banking institutions, are business entities that provide services as intermediaries for different types of financial monetary transactions. Broadly speakin ...

. The discussions at these conferences aim to contribute to ongoing policy debates. Recent conferences include: *October 2019, ''Minting History: Financial history at face value'', with the Rothschild Archive *October 2018, ''Institutional Investors: The history of professional fund management'', with

Schroders Schroders plc is a British multinational asset management company, founded in 1804. The company employs over 5,000 people worldwide in 32 locations around Europe, America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Headquartered in the City of London, it ...

and Banque Lombard Odier *October 2017, ''Money in Africa: Monetary and financial decolonisation in Africa in the 20th Century'', with the

Banco de Portugal The Banco de Portugal ( English: Bank of Portugal) is the central bank of the Portuguese Republic. The bank was founded by royal charter in 1846, during the reign of Queen Maria II of Portugal, by a merger of the '' Banco de Lisboa'' (Bank of Li ...

and

Banque de France The Bank of France (French: ''Banque de France''), headquartered in Paris, is the central bank of France. Founded in 1800, it began as a private institution for managing state debts and issuing notes. It is responsible for the accounts of the Fr ...

*June 2017, ''Legacy of finance: The legacy of the haute-banque in the world. From the 19th to the 21st century'', with

BNP Paribas BNP Paribas is a French international banking group, founded in 2000 from the merger between Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP, "National Bank of Paris") and Paribas, formerly known as the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas. The full name of the gro ...

*May 2017, ''Innovation in archives & Innovative responses to financial crises'', with the

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is one of 12 regional Reserve Banks that, along with the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., make up the United States' central bank. Missouri is the only state to have two main Federal Reserve Banks ( K ...

*June 2012, ''European Association for Banking and Financial History Annual Conference'', with

National Bank of Romania The National Bank of Romania ( ro, Banca Națională a României, BNR) is the central bank of Romania and was established in April 1880. Its headquarters are located in the capital city of Bucharest. The National Bank of Romania is responsible ...

References

External links

Website of the ''eabh'' (The European Association for Banking and Financial History e.V.)
{{Authority control Research institutes established in 1990 Organisations based in Frankfurt Banking organizations History of banking Economic history societies Economic history journals History of business Business and finance professional associations 1990 establishments in Germany

Foundation

Organization chart

Activities

Archives

Publications

Conferences

See also

Organizations

Publications

References

External links