Banque Worms
 |
|
| Bank | |
| Fate | Dissolved |
| Founded | 1928 |
| Founder | Hipolyte Worms |
| Defunct | 2004 |
| Headquarters | Paris, France |
|
Number of employees
|
1,170 (1999) |
| Parent | Worms & Cie |
The Banque Worms was a merchant bank founded by Hypolite Worms in 1928 as a division of Worms & Cie. The banking services division provided financing services to other branches of Worms & Cie, which were involved in ship building, shipping and the coal trade. During World War II (1939–45) Worms & Cie was placed under German supervision, and was subject to intense scrutiny after the war on suspicions of collaboration. The banking services division was spun off as the independent Banque Worms et Cie in 1964. The bank was nationalized in 1982 by the socialist government of François Mitterrand. The bank engaged in risky real estate investments, and lost most of its value. After being re-privatized it was owned in turn by two insurance groups, then was acquired by Deutsche Bank. The bank was wound down in 2004.
Hypolite Worms joined Worms & Cie, which had been founded by his grandfather, in 1910. He became a managing partner and effective head of the organization on 1 January 1916. In 1928 Worms & Cie had three branches: coal trading, shipping and ship building. Hypolite Worms decided to found a fourth branch for banking, the Services bancaires (Banking Services), modelled on English merchant banks. Raymond Poincaré had stabilized the franc on 25 June 1928, and the banking industry was entering what promised to be a prosperous period.
At first Banking Services mainly handled signature transactions, or bank acceptances, in the spirit of a merchant bank. The other departments of Worms & Cie became customers, as did companies associated with the partners. Signature transactions led to discounting commercial paper. This led to deposits, which enabled new types of financial transactions and equity investments. Banking Services was involved in various financing operations during the difficult period of the Great Depression. Ferdinand Vial joined the organization as Chief of Banking Services on 4 July 1928. Lucien Guérin joined in July 1934. He had previously held the same position with the Banque de Suède et de Paris, and had connections in the Nordic and Scandinavian countries. Banking Services began to establish privileged relationships with northern Europe. Gabriel Le Roy Ladurie was appointed head of the department in June 1936. By 1939 Banking Services had solid arrangements with banks in London and New York.
After the outbreak of World War II (1939–45), in November 1939 Hypolite Worms was placed in charge of the French delegation to the Franco-English Maritime Transport Executive in London. After the Fall of France in June 1944 he took responsibility for transferring the French merchant fleet to Britain, and on 4 July 1940 signed what was called the "accords Worms". He then returned to France via Portugal and Spain, and reported to Admiral Darlan in Vichy. The French ordinance of 18 October 1940 placed companies whose leaders were not considered true Arians under state control. Although Michel Goudchaux at once resigned from his position as associate manager, and although Hypolite Worms was born of a Christian mother and had been baptized at birth, Worms & Cie was placed under state supervision. Olivier de Sèze of the Bank of France was made provisional administrator and a German banker was appointed to the board. Hypolite Worms became the target of violent attacks in the pro-German press.
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