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The European Association for Banking and Financial History (eabh) e.V.

Conference

Financing Reconstruction

Can historical insight help?

30 Jun 2023 at 9:00am

Frankfurt am Main, Germany

A financial history conference organised by eabh

sponsored by Deutsche Bank AG

This meeting will look at historical precedents of financing reconstruction after war and catastrophe. Can historical insight help?

Which are the right questions to ask to successfully reconstruct the infrastructure and economy of a country or region? Should there be a Marshall Plan for Ukraine? Are grants or loans the more effective way to rebuild? Who should pay how much and how? Which is the most effective way to use any given aid to achieve productive development? How much should be organised by the state or international organisations?

In history, how were financial sectors revived? How did banks rebuild their operations once they were bombed out? Where did they find qualified staff? Who created the initial equity? Which was the role of multi-lateral institutions (International Monetary Fund, World Bank, …) Which was the role of the state?

The past offers many examples of cases: Europe after 1945, Afghanistan and Irak in the 1990s, Haiti after the Earthquakes, Syria, the Middle East after the Arab Spring, to name just a few. We aim to bring together as many examples as possible in order to look at financing reconstruction comparatively.

Programme

30 June 08.30 Coffee for arriving audience

09.00 Welcome
Christian Sewing, CEO at Deutsche Bank AG

09.05 Introduction

Trade for peace or peace for trade?
Hugo Bänziger, Chairman of the Board of eabh

09.20 Keynote speech
Elina Ribakova, Bruegel (invited)

10.15 Session 1
Financing war, financing peace

Financing war, financing peace. Napoleon, Amsterdam, and the Second Peace of Paris
Mark Edward Hay, Erasmus University Amsterdam

The Ruble’s wars
Ekaterian Pravilova, Princeton University

11.00 Coffee

11.15 Session 2
Reconstruction after war and for independence

The transatlantic financial reconstruction of the United States, 1862-1878
Christoph Nitschke, University of Stuttgart (video presentation)

European reconstruction after World War II
Volker R. Berghahn, Columbia University (video presentation)

Eastern European reconstruction after 1989
Mateusz Walewski & Bogdan Zawadewicz, Bank Gospodarstwa Krjowego (BGK, Polish Development Bank)

How to storm the financial bastille. The 1825 ransom and the search for Haitian monetary sovereignty
Malick Ghachem, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Connecting Ukraine to international capital markets: An application of structured finance to post-war reconstruction
Yarema-Luka Yeleyko, Goethe University

12.15 Lunch

13.00 Panel Discussion

o Jagjit Chada, Director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research
o Beata Daszyńska-Muzyczka, President of the Management Board of Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK) (invited)
o Vladyslav Rashkovan, Director at the International Monetary Fund
o Christian Sewing, CEO at Deutsche Bank AG (tbc)
o William Wells, Managing Director at Rothschild & Co
o tbc
Moderator: Hugo Bänziger, Chairman of the Board of eabh

14.30 Session 3
The 20th century interwar years in Europe

Trade finance in post-war financial reconstruction. The case of ter Meulen International Credit Scheme, 1919-1929
Miles Jamieson, Oxford University

Reconstruction and integration of the financial system in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes after World War I
Saša Ilić & Sonia Jerković, National Bank of Serbia

The Bank of England and post-World War I rationalisation
Vincent Flute, Liverpool John Moores University

The National Bank of Greece and the Refugee Settlement Project in the interwar period
Margarita Dritsas, Hellenic Open University

Société Générale de Belgique and its role in growing the Belgian economy
Gertjan Verdickt, Leuven University

15.30 Coffee

15.45 Session 4
Rebuilding Europe after 1945 and beyond

Italy’s Mediobanca, the Marshall Plan and the reconstruction of Western Europe
Taddeo Molino Lova, Mediobanca

Scandinavian post WWI relief credits for Poland. Genesis, payment difficulties and cancelation of remaining debt
Robert Andrzejczyk, Rzeszów University, Jósef Pilsudski Museum

From post-war reconstruction to global development. The Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau
Alexander Nützenadel, Humboldt University Berlin

16.15 Closing remarks
Harold James, Princeton University (tbc)

16.30 End

Date

30 Jun 2023 at 9:00am to 4:30pm

Location

Deutsche Bank AG
Taunusanlage 12
60325 Frankfurt am Main

Frankfurt am Main, Germany

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