Deutsche Bank turns 125

When the idea of Deutsche Bank became reality in 1870, banking was in the throes of radical change: industrialization meant that industry's financing needs were growing and therefore the very traditional banking sector would have to move forward with the times. In Berlin a number of private bankers were open to new ideas. Their leading light was Adelbert Delbruck, who turned out to be the founder of Deutsche Bank. On January 22, 1870 the bank's statute was passed and on March 10, 1870, the Prussian government granted a banking licence.

The statute made strong play of foreign business: "The purpose of the company is the provision of banking transactions of all types, in particular the promotion and facilitation of trade relations between Germany, the other European countries and overseas markets." The direct aim was to challenge the hegemony of the English banks, who were then still dominating the financing of German foreign trade. From the beginning, international business was steadily built up. Between 1871 and 1873 Deutsche Bank opened five branches: in Bremen, Yokohama, Shanghai, Hamburg and London.

The founders, all of them bankers, were farsighted when they picked the name Deutsche Bank. But they did not suspect that they were creating tough competition for themselves. A bank could point to foreign trade financing as the main focus of its business but it almost certainly could not exist purely for this purpose. In the same year it was set up, the bank began to accept deposits "in cash". That sounds self-evident nowadays, but for the German banking world of 125 years ago it was little short of revolutionary. The bank needed a solid base and found it in the deposit-taking business. Georg von Siemens, one of the two first members of the management board and a beacon in the history of Deutsche Bank, realized this from the start. By promoting this area of business, he not only created a broad capital base for the company but also helped deposit-taking business in Germany to become firmly established.