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- Title
London banks, the German standstill agreements, and 'economic appeasement' in the 1930s.
- Authors
Forbes, Neil
- Abstract
This article discusses the importance of London banks as an interest group in determining British government policy towards Germany in 1930s. Changing conditions in the world economic order after World War I, and particularly after 1931, were an important influence on policy-making in Great Britain. The high level of capital withdrawals from Germany in 1931 was obviously a matter of grave concern to London bankers. The London acceptance houses were particularly involved in Germany. While extending credit through the medium of German banks offered security in the 1920s, serious problems emerged for some houses when the German banking system itself was caught up in the financial crisis of the early 1930s. However, the Bank of England believed that the lending carried out by London's bankers had been commensurate with the growth of Germany's foreign trade, and that if an international collapse could be averted bankers might be left to look after themselves. It is significant that the London creditors were also considered to have been more prudent that those in other countries.
- Subjects
UNITED Kingdom; BANKING industry; BANK of England; GOVERNMENT policy; WORLD War I; INTERNATIONAL trade
- Publication
Economic History Review, 1987, Vol 40, Issue 4, p571
- ISSN
0013-0117
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/2596394