It is believed that 1585 is the year of the Frankfurt stock exchange's
birth. Merchants grouped together to set up exchange rates between very
regional currencies for simplicity. The merchants held their meetings in fields
on the outskirts of the city. The first rules were established in the year 1682.
The beginning of Frankfurt Stock Exchange goes back to the period of
medieval fairs. The Frankfurt autumn fair is believed to be started in the 11th
century as the harvest fair. The Frankfurt autumn fair is mentioned in writing
for the first time during the Assumption holiday in the year 1150. Since the
year 1330, when Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian extended this opportunity to
include a spring fair as well, the city turned out into an important hub for
commercial and monetary transactions. The reason being the trading activity
during the fair, the manufacture of goods developed into merchandise production
for an open and national wide market.
In the beginning of the sixteenth century, Luther termed the city “the
silver and gold hole”, of the German Empire. The Dutch merchants, who had been
prosecuted because of their protestant belief, migrated to Frankfurt city. With
the immigration of Dutch merchants during the sixteenth century wholesale
commerce and the banking sector became popular in Frankfurt. Merchants from all
over Europe visited Frankfurt to benefit from the trade.
Since there was still no single currency either in Europe or in the German Empire, and the range of countries were divided into a number of small economic regions with their own monetary systems, payment was done and based on a large variety of coins. Because of the variety of coins being used, monetary transactions turned out to be tremendously upsetting. The availability of variety in means of payment and the free exchange rates resulted in usury and swindles. To offset the weakening of coinage, merchants held the meeting at the fair in 1585 to establish uniform exchange rates. Today, this event is considered as the moment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange's birth.
Since there was still no single currency either in Europe or in the German Empire, and the range of countries were divided into a number of small economic regions with their own monetary systems, payment was done and based on a large variety of coins. Because of the variety of coins being used, monetary transactions turned out to be tremendously upsetting. The availability of variety in means of payment and the free exchange rates resulted in usury and swindles. To offset the weakening of coinage, merchants held the meeting at the fair in 1585 to establish uniform exchange rates. Today, this event is considered as the moment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange's birth.
The first official exchange list, which offered the average prices for
twelve denominations of currencies, appeared in 1625. The oldest exchange list
from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange that still exists dates from the year 1721.
The list contains exchange rates for 16 coinage types. At the start, the
meetings continued to be held on the open field in front of the Frankfurt town
hall. However, in 1694/95 traders moved to the Grober Braunfels building at the
Liebfrauenberg, thereby selecting the city's most significant and large
building as their fixed meeting place.
In 1682, the first Exchange Rules and Regulations were passed, which
led to the organization of an official stock exchange administration. To begin
with, only trading in bills of exchange was undertaken on the Frankfurt Stock
Exchange.
Presently, the exchange is believed to
serve over 90% (in volume) of the German market, and more than 250,000 trades are
processed every day for over 70,000 listed securities.
Links Used:
No comments:
Post a Comment