CREDITANSTALT-WIENER BANKVEREIN КАО ПРИМЕР УПЛИВА МЕЂУНАРОДНОГ ФИНАНСИЈСКОГ КАПИТАЛА У ПРИВРЕДУ КРАЉЕВИНЕ ЈУГОСЛАВИЈЕ
CREDITANSTALT-WIENER BANKVEREIN AS AN EXAMPLE OF THE PENETRATION OF INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL CAPITAL INTO THE ECONOMY OF THE KINGDOM OF YUGOSLAVIA

Author(s): Vesna Aleksić
Subject(s): Economy, National Economy, Supranational / Global Economy, Economic development, Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), Socio-Economic Research
Published by: Institut za noviju istoriju Srbije
Keywords: International capital; National economy; Intermediation ; Balkans; Creditanstalt-Wiener Bankverein
Summary/Abstract: Until the First World War, the banks Creditanstalt and Wiener Bankverein were woven into the network of Austro-Hungarian and German banks in the Balkans, and when their interests demanded it, they knew they should be part of a consortium of other European banks. With the concentration of large capital, strong banks then became increasingly involved with industry, mining, transport, trade, and agriculture. This “new type” banking, in which the Viennese bank sought to play a significant role, was the link between financial affairs and politics. The businesses and interests of such banks were partly the interests of the national economy. With the creation of two opposing alliances of major European states in the last third of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there was a real race to achieve absolute economic and political monopolies, which made the operation of Creditanstalt and Wiener Bankverein in the Balkans increasingly political. However, it seemed that after World War I they would be eliminated from this merciless economic and political game, but economic and political ties, vast knowledge, and experience, as well as many their economic affiliations on the territory of the newly founded Kingdom of SHS, have made these two Viennese banks gain the role of an important financial intermediary. Namely, for large European capital, especially that which came from Swiss, Belgian, English, and Dutch banks, and which was not directly engaged in the Balkans even before 1918, intermediation, especially of Viennese banks, was of great importance. At the same time, for the Viennese banks themselves, this was a unique opportunity to return to the Balkan economic scene with the help of international financial capital. Earlier, they built their positions, using the influence and prestige of their country, harmonizing business interests with the interests of the national economy. Thus, in the case of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the old Viennese banks skillfully took advantage of the fact that the state, due to complex internal political circumstances, was unable to organize a strong enough national banking apparatus that could successfully cover the growing financial needs, especially in industry, regardless of foreign financial influence. Taking advantage of this situation, as well as relying more on foreign than their own capital, the Viennese banks gradually regained their old positions and enabled the penetration of international capital into the Yugoslav financial market. However, the great crisis of European banking in the 1930s will show the unsustainable conception of “mixed type” banks, which will also represent the end of the domination of the Austrian-German banking organization in the Balkans embodied through the newly formed bank Creditanstalt-Wiener Bankverein. Each further placement of large international capital will be based exclusively on its own estimates, while business policy will be characterized by much greater prudence in work.

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