Die Herausbildung des Geldinstitutsnetzes während des österreich-unga-rischen Dualismus im Komitat Somogy (Schomodei)

Abstract

The purpose of the study: In Somogy County, lying between Lake Balaton and the River Drava in the central part of Historic Hungary, the capitalist economy made a late start in the 1860s. The contemporary publications describing the economy of the region mainly dealt with agriculture and industry, and only occasionally did they provide information on the development of a network of capitalist financial institutions. The present study covers the period from the beginnings to the crisis of 1873. Applied methods: Besides the analyses published so far, the main sources of information included the contemporary press and the balance sheet data published for the first business year of 1872 and for 1873. Unfortunately, due to the scarcity and nature of source materials, several intriguing questions such as the composition of shareholders, the catchment area of the savings bank, and financial problems unrevealed by the balance sheets if any remain unanswered for the time being. Outcomes: In the capitalising Somogy County, the first saving bank was founded in the county seat, Kaposvár, in 1864, followed by four others (in Csurgó, Marcali, Nagyatád and Szigetvár) and a credit institution (in Kaposvár) within the following decade. All the latter banks were established in district seats developing into regional economic centres. Two tiers of the financial market emerged. One comprising six aid societies providing short term, small amount loans. Lacking the ability to grant full scale financial services, these aid societies were not categorised as financial institutions by law. The savings banks established at a higher level of economic development constituted the next tier. At the time, they dealt with the three classical lines of business, i.e. commercial draft discounting, deposit taking and mortgage lending, and developed successfully and rapidly. No well capitalised bank belonging to the third or top tier was created in Somogy County during the studied period.