A. Schaaffhausen'scher Bankverein

The corporation of A. Schaaffhausen'scher Bank Association (German: A. Schaaffhausen'scher Bankverein) was a bank based in Cologne and was the first legally recognised as a bank in Germany.

In 1791 Abraham Schaaffhausen founded his private bank, one of the first and most important financial resources for the growing Rhineland-Westphalia area and its involvement in heavy industry. In 1848, the bank, seriously affected by the Revolutions of 1848, found itself facing solvency issues, and on March 29, 1848, they were forced to cease payment. Under national guarantees, and acting upon the advice of the Prussian Finance Minister (and later founder of the Disconto-Association), David Hansemann, the bank was allowed to be salvaged by other bankers under the leadership of Gustav Mevissen, W. L. Deichmann, and Victor Wendelstadt. To this end, the Prussian government first sanctioned a bank in the form of a - the A. Schaaffhausen'schen Bank Association. By 1852, the bank was able to pay back the aid it had received from the state.

Its banking philosophy may be inferred from an excerpt from the annual report for 1852 — “the function of a great banking institution is not so much to start new branches of industry . . ., as to induce the capitalists of the country, by recommendations based on exhaustive investigations, to turn idle capital toward such enterprises, which, when properly launched in response to existing requirements, and offering the guarantee of expert management, bid fair to yield reasonable profits.” Industrial in purpose, current account business was secondary, and deposits were received only on condition of three, six and 12 months' notice being given for their withdrawal, and then only at a low rate of interest. The close identification from the first with the prosperous and flourishing Rhineland-Westphalia industry, and the strict adherence to its original purpose, lent strength to the Bankverein to weather the financial crisis of 1857 without the necessity of canceling any of its outstanding credits — a strong factor in extending its influence during succeeding years. One after another it nurtured industrial enterprises within its banking zone, each becoming an added source of strength for the Bankverein.

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