Bank and History Historical Circular No. 2 Middle of June 2003
DEUTSCHE—BANK in EAST—ASIA 
Textfeld: Historical Association of DEUTSCHE—BANK 
On June 23, 2003, 5:30 p.m., there will be a public lecture event of the Historical Association of 
DEUTSCHE—BANK on “
18720000—20030000    DEUTSCHE—BANK—IN—EAST—ASIA 
” in the towers at Taunusanlage 12, Frankfurt. 
After an introduction by Rolf-E. Breuer, Werner Plumpe, PROFESSOR—at the UNIVERSITÄT—Frankfurt, will hold the MAIN speech. 
Passages read from Hermann Wallich’s memoirs and historical film sequences will provide insights into the EAST—ASIA of the past. 
Present and future business in the region will be the topics of Jürgen Fitschen’s remarks. 
With youthful energy DEUTSCHE—BANK, SHORTLY—AFTER its foundation, started implementing its ambitious programme of promoting German foreign trade. 
That London, Bremen and Hamburg were the first branches was an obvious development, 
but that the expansion led to Shanghai and Yokohama was less so. 
The experiment ended —SOON as the expectations placed on the EAST—ASIAn business did not come to fruition. 
The two branches with CAPITAL totalling 3.000.000“Taler” were victims of the sinking of price of silver after Germany’s transition to the gold standard. 
18750000             —IN WHEN DEUTSCHE—BANK liquidated these branches , 
18750000             —IN 1 tenth of the founding CAPITAL had been lost. 
18890000             The next start-up in the Far East was no longer an exclusive undertaking of DEUTSCHE—BANK: 
18890000            —IN DEUTSCH—ASIATISCHE—BANK was established  , with headquarters in Shanghai, but organized ACCORDING—TO German law. 
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE FOLLOWING YEAR
18900000             DEUTSCH—ASIATISCHE—BANK started business in China . 
18900000             DEUTSCH—ASIATISCHE—BANK its CAPITAL based on silver was invested by the 13 banks that formed the syndicate of founders  
18900000             DEUTSCH—ASIATISCHE—BANK its CAPITAL portion largest was held by DISCONTO—GESELLSCHAFT with 16 % – approximately
followed 
18900000             DEUTSCH—ASIATISCHE—BANK its CAPITAL portion by S. Bleichröder & Co with about 11 %. 
followed 
18900000             DEUTSCH—ASIATISCHE—BANK its CAPITAL portion by DEUTSCHE—BANK, with about 11 %. 
18900000             The remarkable aspect of the new DEUTSCH—ASIATISCHE—BANK 
– and this was an important difference from the bank establishments for business in South America 
– was that DEUTSCH—ASIATISCHE—BANK could be regarded as the representative of all German banks seeing as the “syndicate for Asian transactions” 
– was that DEUTSCH—ASIATISCHE—BANK belonged to the most renowned German institutions, 
in addition to the group of founders 
On top of this, DEUTSCH—ASIATISCHE—BANK support came from the Reich GOVERNMENT, 
which had displayed a great deal of interest in DEUTSCH—ASIATISCHE—BANK its foundation. 
The DEUTSCH—ASIATISCHE—BANK initial period was difficult and, as 
2 decades PREVIOUSLY, 
it was the development of the price of silver that caused concern. 
There was no stopping the certain but unsteady disappearance of silver’s importance as a backing of currency. 
18900000             AT THE BEGINNING OF the ,’s China and India still had silver-backed currencies and 
18900000             AT THE BEGINNING OF the ,’in the United States there were strong, although ultimately futile, efforts to retain the silverstandard. 
Furthermore, 
18900000             AT THE BEGINNING OF the ,’competition was strong, whereby Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking CO—OPERATION had the strongest position: 
18900000             AT THE BEGINNING OF ,’they issued most Chinese bonds. 
19070000–19170000    Starting in ,until DEUTSCHE—Asiatische Bank – known in STOCK—MARKET jargon as “Asiatenbank” – even issued its own BANK—NOTes 
19170000             —IN the Chinese GOVERNMENT revoked the BANK—NOTE concession . 
 
DURING , the bank was severely affected. 
Most foreign branches, including the representative offices in Calcutta and Singapore, had to discontinue operations. 
WWI after Only a few could be reopened. 
19200000—19150000    It was 1. in that for the years since  plans could be made for presenting an ANNUAL—REPORT . 
It had to include the reassesment of all asset positions, seeing as a continuous record of the pre-war financial accounts was impossible. 
Due to political instability entailing uphevals in China DURING these years, 
it was, however, difficult to gain an over VIEW—OF the assets still existing there. 
19230000             —IN 1 earthquake had destroyed the DEUTSCH—ASIATISCHE—BANK branch in Yokohama 
19230000             —SINCE had steadily declined the DEUTSCH—ASIATISCHE—BANK branch in Yokohama Business in Japan 
19320000             —IN therefore The remaining DEUTSCH—ASIATISCHE—BANK representative office in Kobe was closed, 
19320000             so then the DEUTSCH—ASIATISCHE—BANK concentrated on its Chinese business. 
19320000             AT—THIS—TIME, Germany was actually still in 4. place in trade with China: 
19320000             approximately 6 % of Chinese foreign trade involved Germany. 
             WWI—AFTER, DEUTSCH—ASIATISCHE—BANK was once again faced with ruins. 
             WWI—AFTER, Hamburg became its new headquarters, 
19060000             Hamburg where a branch had 1. been opened in in order to 
– ACCORDING—TO the ANNUAL—REPORT 
– “be able to maintain more active and more intimate business relations with our most important clientele, the MAIN offices of the companies established in EAST—ASIA.” 
It was from Hamburg, at the only branch that could continue its activities, that the slow rebuilding process was initiated, 
which was to take place over many years. 
19580000             —IN 1 DEUTSCHE—BANK—BRANCH was opened in Hong Kong, and 
19620000             —IN 1 DEUTSCHE—BANK—BRANCH was opened in Karachi. 
19620000             —IN Thus the DEUTSCHE—BANK grew beyond the original region, 
19620000             —IN seeing as the DEUTSCHE—BANK had to find a compensation for the business the DEUTSCHE—BANK had lost in China. 
19700101—19791231    IN THE —EARLY, s Movement came into the handed-down structures of the EAST—ASIAn business . 
DEUTSCHE–BANK had, 
in line with the “Abs doctrine”, 
displayed little interest in going abroad again with its own branches. 
19620000–19450000    WWII—AFTER DEUTSCHE–BANK had issued a bond of the City and Prefecture of Osaka in  
19620000             —AFTER – not only the 1. Japanese bond in Germany 
19620000             —AFTER but also even the 1. in Europe 
19620000             – a DEUTSCHE–BANK representative office in Tokyo was opened together with the subsidiary DEUTSCHE UEBERSEEISCHE BANK. In 
19710000             this DEUTSCHE–BANK representative office in Tokyo was transformed into 1 branch of DEUTSCHE UEBERSEEISCHE BANK, which was actually a stranger in Asia. 
19710000             This construction was also a precursor of a change in branch policies, 
19710000             seeing as DEUTSCHE–BANK had made an agreement with the Japanese GOVERNMENT 
19710000             that it would continue to operate this as its own branch as —SOON as it became active in another country. 
19760000             This occurred with the opening of the London branch in 
19760000             so 1 branch of DEUTSCHE—BANK commenced business in Tokyo already DURING THE SAME YEAR. 
19720000             DURING this period The 2. important event was the founding of the Europäisch-Asiatische Bank in . 
DEUTSCH—ASIATISCHE—BANK was merged into it 
19720000             DURING THE SAME YEAR 
19720000             DURING THE SAME YEAR after the group of shareholders had PREVIOUSLY become smaller, 
19720000—18890000    which still included banks that had founded the DEUTSCHE—BANK back in , . 
19720000             It was no longer German but European partners from within the EBIC structure who participated in the new bank. 
19770000             In the name of the DEUTSCHE—BANK was anglicised to European Asian Bank. 
With the turning away from syndicate banking 
and the resulting loss of importance of EBIC, 
DEUTSCHE—BANK step-by-step acquired the equity CAPITAL of the European Asian Bank 
19860000             and changed its name to DEUTSCHE–BANK (Asia) in . 
19870000             it was merged into DEUTSCHE–BANK. 
19230000             Office Chaos: Inflation in  
19230000             WWI—AFTER THE IN, inflation in Germany reached its peak. 
19230000             WWI—AFTER THE IN, inflation in Germany The reeling currency shook the foundations of the economy, placed companies before insoluble problems. 
19230000             WWI—AFTER THE IN, inflation in Germany The economic catastrophe had brought operational chaos with it. 
19200000             —IN—ALREADY, Paul MANKIEWITZ, member of DEUTSCHE–BANK’s Board of Managing Directors, 
19200000             —IN—ALREADY, Paul MANKIEWITZ described the situation in the offices “such as I never would have thought possible in such an orderly corporate Group as DEUTSCHE–BANK.” 
19200000             —TIME—AT—THAT, DAS DEUTSCHE REICH was only AT THE BEGINNING OF almost 4 years of inflation, 
19200000             —DURING—WHICH the bottom dropped out from under the value of the MARK 
19200000             —DURING—WHICH again the bottom dropped out from under the value of the MARK and 
19200000             —DURING—WHICH again the bottom dropped out from under the value of the MARK . 
Due to the flight into tangible asset equities, 
the stock exchange was experiencing a never before seen volume of trading 
– the DEUTSCHE—BANK publicly criticized the “equity gambling fever” of a broad group of people. 
Again and again, trading free days had to be declared to handle the flood of orDERSELBE 
In like manner, the cashless payment transactions already demanded DURING the war continued to increase; 
in parallel, the number of accounts grew. 
At the height of inflation, checks were presented that did not even have the value of two Goldpfennigs (approx. 1/210th of a dollar). 
The Berlin Banking Association therefore resolved only to permit cash disbursals starting from a minimum sum with the countervalue of one Goldmark 
and for transfers of five Goldmarks. 
19231000             AT THE BEGINNING OF, the “T-mark” (thousand marks) was introduced onto the books, 
19231000             but  by the end of the month the “M-mark” (million marks) had already arrived 
19231000             but  by the end of and it was followed by the “Bill.-Mark” (trillion marks). 
19231000             but  by the end of The full trillion amounts were written before the decimal, 
19231000             but  by the end of followed by the first two billion digits and the remaining figures were dropped. 
19231000             but  by the end of In all this, one must not forget that the typewriter was still the most important technical aid in the offices. 
Further burdens were caused by state regulations. 
19230000             —IN THE MIDDLE OF , in its DEUTSCHE—BANK ANNUAL—REPORT complained : 
19230000—19220000    “In there are no less than 176 laws, regulations, export provisions – including 62 that have only to do with taxes! 
19230000—19220000    Profits were low, expenses in all areas were high because of unproductive work. 
19230000—19220000    The banking sector that has incurred a very large portion of this unproductive work 
19230000—19220000    accrued expenses for rooms and personnel which are out of bounds with the real value of the turnover.” 
19230816             The minting presses could no longer keep up with the accelerating devaluation of money: 
19230816             BANK—NOTes went out. 
19230816             “BANK—NOTE printing machines were working feverishly and yet 
19230816             a scarcity of payment means was created that was quite nearly catastrophic,” 
19230816             reported HERMANN WOLFF, DIRECTOR OF DEUTSCHE—BANK’S COLOGNE BRANCH. 
19230816             “On 1 fine day, we were completely cleaned out. 
19230816             We closed the branch doors and put up a sign: ‘Temporarily closed due to lack of currency.’ 
19230816             When we went to take down the sign later in THE—DAY, 
19230816             it was covered with BANK—NOTes that had meanwhile already become worthless due to inflation. 
19230816             Although we could not resume business with these notes either, 
19230816             this assistance was proof that, despite everything, the people of COLOGNE had not lost their sense of humour.” 
19230816             Humour was also needed on the part of those staff members authorised to sign for the Berlin head office, 
19230816             when the lack of cash money was to be replaced by the issuing of checks. 
19230816             In a circular dated, on this matter: 
19230816             “On the basis of the resolution of the Berlin Banking Association, 
19230816             we will be receiving M 460.000.000.000 in the next few days as emergency money in the form of checks to be issued. 
19230816             In total there will be 260.000 checks. 
19230816             Considering the current lack of payment means, we attach the greatest importance in that 
19230816             all available strengths are to be used to sign the checks so that
19230816             their processing can be completed as quickly as possible. 
19230816             We therefore request you to draw the attention of your gentlemen authorized as signatories (department directors , procurists) that 
19230816             DURING the next 8 days they must be available to provide approximately 1.000 check signatures DAILY. 
19230816             It is not proper that individual gentlemen exclude themselves from the signing of these 1.000 check signatures DAILY 
19230816             unless there is a very especially serious reason in one case or another. 
19230816             In the interests of the most rapid execution of the resolution of the Banking Association, 
19230816             we would welcome it if also the gentlemen in the position of deputy directors could also arrange to make it possible to participate in the signing of the checks.” 
Inflation also had a long-term effect on the composition of the DEUTSCHE—BANK’s personnel. 
The “bank official” lost a lot of his elite status, 
seeing as the social composition of the staff clearly changed. 
This created conflict between long-time staff members who identified themselves fully with the DEUTSCHE—BANK 
and a growing number of trained office workers and employees who earned less and whose pride in working at a bank was less pronounced. 
For routine procedures – and their number grew immeasurably – specially trained staff members were not needed. 
19240000             In the ANNUAL—REPORT for , DEUTSCHE—BANK wrote that the number of personnel totalling 9.587 
19130000             —END—OF—AT—THE 
19230000             had increased over the course of the year  to 37.000 employees. 
19130000             Here the figure for included the personnel from banks that were acquired later. 
Inflation transformed the bank into a large-scale operation, 
19210000             which was also reflected by the establishment of an organisation department at the head office in the year 
Restructuring and the schematisation of processes increased: 
“The requirements with regard to the competency, intelligence and judgement of the average bank employee declined significantly,” 
19580000             in concluded Hans Janberg, member of DEUTSCHE—BANK’s Board of Managing Directors in his sociological study of bank employees. 
Lost and Found Office 
19350801             —ON The “Swibbogen” (“Flying Buttress”) of DEUTSCHE—BANK and DISCONTO—GESELLSCHAFT published the following letter , : 
19350801             Are shirts offensive? 
19350801             DURING a visit to the head officE I Noticed – a big heat wave was currently holding sway – 
19350801             that the workforce was almost all in comfortable clothing, i.e. only in shirts without suit jackets, actually burdensome at such temperatures. 
19350801             I regret to think that somewhere in a dusty file a company provision still appears to exist ACCORDING—TO which counter officials [...] are not permitted to work in shirts. 
19350801             This backwardness should finally be energetically repealed. 
19350801             Many bank counters are subject to steady sunshine. 
19350801             Once the sun god swings his mercilessly glowing sceptre, nearly tropical temperatures rage in the workrooms. 
19350801             The counter official then suffers doubly under the heat seeing as he must of course move around more than is the case for his other working colleagues. 
19350801             The customers who themselves appear in shirts (the number is very large) certainly have nothing to object to if the employees claim the same comfort for themselves. 
19350801             A precondition is of course that the shirt is absolutely clean. 
19350801             These reasons are persuasive enough in themselves to part with old traditions, 
19350801             which have the counter officials in full disguise at such a great heat. 
19350801             In any case, this easement is also in the interests of business as fresh energy does not suffer from bodily discomfort. 
19350801             The look of a “counter team” clothed in bright shirts would also make a good impression on the clientele. R. K. 
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Impressum: This Historical Circular was published by the Historical Association of DEUTSCHE—BANK,
RossMARKT 18, 60254 Frankfurt am MAIN. 
Responsible in accordance with the German Press Act: PROFESSOR—DOCTOR—Manfred Pohl 