Carl Klönne
| Carl Klönne | |
|---|---|
| Born |
26 May 1850 Solingen, Rhine Province, Prussia |
| Died | 20 May 1915 (aged 64) Berlin, Germany |
| Occupation | Banker |
| Spouse(s) | Ida Andreae (1856–1932) |
| Parent(s) | Carl Klönne (1824–1883) Emilie Kölker (1829–1878) |
Carl Klönne (26 May 1850 - 20 May 1915) was a German Banker.
Carl Klönne was born in Solingen, a city famous for centuries as a centre for sword and knife making which during the nineteenth century grew to become an important industrial centre on the edge of the Ruhr District. His father, also called Carl, was a businessman: his grandfather had worked as a miner. The family was not particularly wealthy.
Klönne underwent a training in banking in Cologne, after which he worked in a succession of banks in Cologne, Berlin, Amsterdam, London and even, briefly, in Russia. By 1875 he was director of the Westphalia Bank in Bielefeld. The bank was in a troubled state partly on account of the recession which hit Europe in the esrly 1870s, triggered initially by a disruption following the Franco-Prussian War and a collapse in farm prices. Helped by his friend and colleague, Albert Müller (who later became a director at the ), and applying sound judgement combined with due prudence, Klönne was able to restore the Bielfeld bank to robust health within a few years, enhancing his own reputation in the process.
In 1879 he joined the board of the Cologne based Schaaffhausen'scher Bank. The Schaaffhausen'scher Bank was also suffering from the after effects of the 1870s recession. With Klönne on the board the bank was restored to health. His own focus was on financing industrial investment: during his time on the board the Schaaffhausen'scher made a significant contribution to the booming regional economy during the final decades of the nineteenth century. A particularly important client, and one with whom he would retain and build his friendship long after he had moved on from the Schaaffhausen'scher Bank, was August Thyssen. Klönne nevertheless identified a continuing mismatch between the level of the investment opportunities available in the Rhineland/Ruhr region, and the amount of investment capital that the banks locally were able to provide. He therefore urged his fellow board members to open a branch in Berlin which was developing rapidly as an international financial centre. The new branch opened in 1890 and for a year Klönne relocated to Berlin in order to set it up and run it. The bank's capital base increased dramatically, reaching 100 Million Marks in 1899. At this point Klönne believed that in order to grow further the bank should relocate its headquarters to Berlin. His fellow directors believed they were running a regional bank, however, and were not persuaded of the desirability of moving to Berlin. Relations became more strained and eventually it was Klönne who resigned from the board of the Schaaffhausen'scher Bank.
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