This is a full and authoritative account of the history of private banking, beginning with its development in conjunction with the world markets served by and centred on a few European cities, notably Amsterdam and London. The study details the way in which private banking adapted to the age of the corporate economy from the 1870s to the 1930s, the decline during and after the Great Depression and the post-war renaissance. It concludes with an appraisal of the causes and consequences of the modern expansion of private banking. No longer the exclusive preserve of partnerships, the management of investment portfolios of wealthy individuals and institutions is now a major concern of international joint-stock banks.

Contents: Introduction; The rise of the Rothschilds: the family firm as multinational, Niall Ferguson; The Rothschild archive, Victor Gray with Melanie Asprey; Private banks and the onset of the corporate economy, Youssef Cassis; London's first 'big bang'? Institutional change in the City, 1855-83, Philip L. Cottrell; Banking and family archives, Fiona Maccoll; The Anglo-American houses in the 19th century, Edwin J. Perkins; The Parisian 'haute banque' and the international economy in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Alain Plessis; Private banks and international finance in the light of the archives of Baring Brothers, John Orbell; German private banks and German industry, 1830-1938, Dieter Ziegler; Private bankers and Italian industrialisation, Luciano Segreto; Private banks and industry in the light of the archives of Bank Sal. Oppenheim Jr & Cie, Cologne, Gabriele Teichmann; Jewish private banks, Ginette Kurgan-van Hentenryk; Protestant banking, Martin Körner; Private bankers and philanthropy: the City of London, 1880s-1920s, Pat Thane; Hereditary calling, inherited refinement: the private bankers of the City of London, 1914-1986, David Kynaston; Bibliography; Index.

Youssef Cassis is from the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK and Philip Cottrell is from the London School of Economics and Political Science, University of Leicester with Monika Pohle Fraser and Iain L. Fraser