The history of Geneva’s financial Place

The crossroads of major communication routes, from the Mediterranean to Flanders, from Italy to France, Geneva’s destiny was already being shaped two thousand years ago.

In 1387, Bishop Adhémar Fabri granted the people of Geneva a number of franchises confirming all of their existing rights and the liberties recently acquired. A unique privilege in Christendom, the people of Geneva were allowed to lend money against interest, a practice which was strongly condemned by the Church at the time.

During the 14th and 15th centuries, Geneva became one of the major European trade fair capitals. Funds were conveyed, money was transferred, exchange and credit were granted: traders turned into bankers.

This long-standing financial practice even led Calvin to legitimise the monetary trade, an opening that had a lasting influence on the moral standards and economic development of protestant countries, from Geneva to Holland, Germany to Sweden, and England to the United States.

As far back as the 17th century, Geneva developed a commercial network which extended around the world. The city's bankers financed the Dutch West Indies Company, the Royal Bank of England, the Royal Manufacture of Mirrors (Saint-Gobain, the first industrial company in Europe) and many other ventures.

Geneva bankers became advisers to ministers and kings, and even became ministers themselves. Albert Gallatin became Secretary of the United States Treasury and negotiated the Louisiana Purchase, Georges Prévost was the Governor General of Canada, Pierre Isaac Thellusson the Director of the Bank of England and Jacques Necker the Minister of Finance under Louis XVI.

In the 19th century, Geneva bankers played an active part in the industrial and commercial development of Switzerland and Europe by financing railway companies and issuing public loans.

It was in Geneva that the first Swiss stock exchange was created in 1857, a quarter of a century before Zurich and Basel. This institution would contribute strongly to the canton’s financial development. The Geneva Stock Exchange was the fifth in importance in Europe at the time, after Amsterdam, Copenhagen, London and Paris. Already then, many foreign shares were traded. 

A number of other banks were created at the turn of the 20th century, incorporated as public limited companies and endowed with a clear commercial aim. Geneva's private banks gradually moved towards specialising in pure asset management, an activity which would become of increasing importance for Geneva from the end of World War II. The expertise and tradition of the city's private bankers attracted more and more Swiss and foreign merchant banks, financial companies and supporting services to Geneva, thus turning the city into a world capital of asset management.

Nevertheless, Geneva has not entirely abandoned its past role as a trading center. Many major international trading companies have their headquarters here, where banking institutions offer a comprehensive range of financial services in the domain.