Universalbanken — Erfahrungen und mögliche Lehren

Abstract

Universal Banks – Experience and Lectures that May Have to Be Learned

The author discusses the question of whether the German universal banking system – as a whole or at least material elements thereof – constitute a blueprint if a country nowadays were to restructure or establish its monetary and credit systems afresh. His answer is "yes", and in doing so, he is thinking of the following special features of the universal banking system: The granting of personal, unsecured loans; the application of the "crédit mobilier" principle of long-term investment financing; the strong emphasis on deposit-taking; the continued development of current account transactions and the bank clearing system. For countries not in a position to rely on a prosperous middle class and on wealthy merchants and traders, the universal banking system in principle is more suitable than the Anglo-Saxon separation system. The credit category known as the unsecured, personal loan makes it possible for all proficient and venturesome enterprises to make investments, even if such enterprises are short of the necessary assets. On the one hand the bank client is presented with the complete range of banking services as if he were in a supermarket; on the other, the client commits himself to a particularly close relationship with "his" banker.