E-Book Overview
Utilizing British and American archives, Austin charts Baring Brothers development from wool merchants to one of the most powerful global financial institutions. Throughout the nineteenth century, the company grew in tandem with the British Empire. It invested heavily in developing markets in Asia, Africa and South America, both supporting the British administration and opening up new areas for colonial expansion. By the end of the century, it was said that Britain had established an empire in South America by capital alone. The Baring family amassed huge personal fortunes and Austin includes, for the first time, a study of personal and corporate art collections associated with the company. In 1995, the company collapsed over a weekend, brought down by the 'rogue trader' Nick Leeson. In the first history of Baring Brothers to be written since its collapse, Austin analyses the errors which led to its downfall and places them in the context of the company's illustrious history.
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BARING BROTHERS AND THE BIRTH OF MODERN FINANCE FINANCIAL HISTORY Series Editor: Robert E. Wright Titles in this Series Slave Agriculture and Financial Markets in Antebellum America. The Bank of the United States in Mississippi, 1831–1852 Richard Holcombe Kilbourne, Jr The Political Economy of Sentiment: Paper Credit and the Scottish Enlightenment in Early Republic Boston, 1780–1820 Jose R. Torre Forthcoming Titles Virginia and the Panic of 1819: The First Great Depression and the Commonwealth Clyde A. Haulman Gambling on the American Dream: Atlantic City and the Casino Era James R. Karmel Government Debts and Financial Markets in Europe Fausto Piola Caselli (ed.) The Revenue Imperative: The Union’s Financial Policies During the American Civil War Jane Flaherty Guilty Money: The City of London in Victorian and Edwardian Culture, 1815–1914 Ranald C. Mitchie www.pickeringchatto.com/financialhistory BARING BROTHERS AND THE BIRTH OF MODERN FINANCE BY Peter E. Austin london PICKERING & CHATTO 2007 PUBLISHED BY PICKERING & CHATTO PUBLISHERS LIMITED 21 BLOOMSBURY WAY, LONDON WC1A 2TH 2252 RIDGE ROAD, BROOKFIELD, VERMONT 05036 9704, USA WWW.PICKERINGCHATTO.COM ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRODUCED, STORED IN A RETRIEVAL SYSTEM, OR TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, ELECTRONIC, MECHANICAL, PHOTOCOPYING, RECORDING, OR OTHERWISE WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER. © Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Limited 2007 © Peter E. Austin 2007 british library cataloguing in publication data Austin, Peter E. Baring Brothers and the birth of modern finance 1. Baring Brothers & Co. Ltd – History 2. Merchant banks – Great Britain – History 3. Banks and banking, International – Great Britain – History I. Title 332.6’6’0941 ISBN-13: 9781851969227 ∞ This publication is printed on acid-free paper that conforms to the American National Standard for the Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. Typeset by Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Limited Printed in the United Kingdom by Athenauem Press Ltd, Gateshead CONTENTS List of Charts, Tables and Figures Nomenclature Chronology Introduction 1 Growth of Confidence (1763–1828) Establishment and Early Reputation-Building Barings and America Troubles of 1825 and Reorganization of the Partnership 2 Opportunity and System (1828–30) Foreign Investor Interest in the United States General Domestic and Foreign Trade Profile Credit Arrangements and Trade Mechanics The New Partnership Rules and Principles 3 Good Timing (1830–2) Cornerstone Connections Trough Opportunities and British Malaise A Worldwide System The Deferred Threes Barings Makes a Deal 4 Silver Linings (1832–4) Impediments to Business Continued American Expansion Jackson, the Bank and Money Disruption Barings’