The Working Group on Banking and Insurance History met on 18 November 2022 at the premises of Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt a.M. to discuss "German Banks and the Second Globalisation".

In an introductory lecture, DETLEF KRAUSE shed light on various aspects of the internationalisation of Commerzbank as well as Dresdner Bank. For example, he discussed the founding circle of Commerzbank, which was heavily involved in foreign trade, the relationship between national and international lending business, and the establishment of representative offices and subsidiaries abroad. CHRISTOPHER KOPPER then spoke about the emergence of the Euromarket, why the financial centre of Luxembourg became extremely attractive for major German banks in the 1960s, and how their business developed. Using the example of Deutsche Bank, ALEXANDER NÜTZENADEL then discussed the extent to which historical experience shaped the bank's expectations and was incorporated into its risk assessment, drawing on insights from behavioural economics. He argued that Deutsche Bank's information and risk management was expanded and centralised in the 1970s against the background of crisis developments such as the oil price crisis or the debt crises in Italy and Latin America. In her presentation, YI LIU explored the questions of how Commerzbank gained access to the financial market of the People's Republic of China and what business opportunities the bank had in this market. Liu explained that Commerzbank had used the gradual opening of the Chinese market for systematic expansion and had eventually diversified the range of financial products in order to remain competitive, achieve higher returns and limit risks.

Following the presentations, FRIEDERIKE SATTLER was elected as the new Chair of the Working Group. She thus takes over from DIETER ZIEGLER, who chaired the working group for 14 years. Congratulations!