Gerle János: Palaces of Money - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1994)
is the chain with which mankind is connected to the Almighty... Széchenyi himself needed creditors for the large-scale investments he initiated. (For example the construction of the Chain Bridge was financed by the Greek-born Viennese banker György Fina, and consequently the municipality of Pest would not assume ownership until 1870 when it finally repaid the loan.) In 1841 Ferdinand V endorsed the charter of the Pest Commercial Bank whose establishment had been urged for ten years by the city’s merchants. Here is one sentence from their petition in which they precisely put forth the bank’s objectives: The universally felt need for a financial institution which would be able, on the basis of diligently adhering to equity, to unite the now divided strength of the Hungarian nation’s merchants and other members of all ranks, to further the cause of selling the several goods produced in this country, to make turning a decent profit for its hard-working merchants easier, to awaken domestic industry, and, furthermore, to ensure that whoever lends money should be securely and punctually re- paid-this need then has moved certain prominent merchants and private individuals to set up, with the potent support of His Majesty the Emperor’s Palatine Governing Hungary the patron and champion of all manner of effort to serve the public, an institution by which capital will be procured for domestic commerce and industry in general, which capital, spent exclusively on this commerce, should in turn multiply the circulation of money in this country, encourage enterprise, lighten the burden of credit service, make the foundations of credit stronger, and thus forestall the practice of usury, which has been so hideously damaging so far. The Commercial Bank started to operate with a share capital of two million pengős, its first share having been subscribed by Palatine Joseph, who was an enthusiastic supporter of founding the bank. A centenary almanac gives a detailed description of how, on 30 April 1842, the founders’ meeting was held in the Pest commercial chamber’s splendid hall, the future Lloyd’s Palace, a building completed in 1830. (The Hotel Atrium-Hyatt stands in its place today.) It was here, in two or three 14
