What is the parisian « haute banque » in the nineteenth century ?

Nicolas Stoskopf (1)

1 CRESAT - Centre de Recherches sur les Économies, les Sociétés, les Arts et les Techniques

It is agreed that the major Parisian merchant bankers ( haute banque ) in the 19th century formed an elite and that they accounted for 10 per cent of the banking houses. How is the lower limit to be fixed? We cannot do so when we apply the usual criteria. This is because membership of major merchant banking circles was not based on objective criteria, but on a kind of co-option similar to that in society clubs; all were equal, but some were admitted to membership and others were not. In the absence of evidence the historian can find traces of these choices in the composition of banking groups and the boards of directors of large companies.

Mots clés: Banking; merchant bank; finance; business group; business network; family enterprise; elite; social club; sociability; prosopography

Domaines: Histoire

Nicolas Stoskopf. What is the parisian « haute banque » in the nineteenth century ?. Journée d'études sur l'histoire de la haute banque, 2000, France. ⟨hal-00441164⟩