André Langrand-Dumonceau (1826–1900) was a Belgian financier, banker and entrepreneur and a major figure in European financial world of the 1860s. He was born in 1826 in the of Vossem, then part of the

United Kingdom of the Netherlands The United Kingdom of the Netherlands is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed from 1815 to 1839. The United Netherlands was created in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars through the fusion of territories t ...

. He started his career in financial services, helped by his elder brother, who worked for a Belgian branch of a French insurance company. By the age of 36 he was in control of eleven companies across Europe. He was involved in an attempt to build a "Catholic financial empire", a counterweight to the perceived Jewish dominance of the financial sector. He received international recognition, including a title of count at the Papal court, and "an international reputation as a financial genius". His fortune collapsed in the late 1860s, triggering a major financial-political scandal in Belgium. During the period from the 1850s to 1870 he was involved with managing over twenty companies, including banks, and insurance and railway companies, a number of which he had founded; including Royale Belge. He received backing from a number of notable figures, including Pope

Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

, Emperor

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Napoleon III of France Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led a series of m ...

, and King Leopold of Belgium. His financial plan, however, was unsound, being built on using one company's equity capital to take up the loan capital of another. By the late 1860s, the strain of fund transfers on his network became too much to bear. In the financial Crash of 1870 he declared

personal bankruptcy Personal bankruptcy law allows, in certain jurisdictions, an individual to be declared bankrupt. Virtually every country with a modern legal system features some form of debt relief for individuals. Personal bankruptcy is distinguished from corpora ...

and fled into exile; he was accused of theft, bribery and criminal recklessness, and was condemned ''

in absentia ''In Absentia'' is the seventh studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released on 24 September 2002. The album marked several changes for the band, with it being the first with new drummer Gavin Harrison and the f ...

'' after a trial that ran from 1872 to 1879. He died in Rome in 1900.

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Leesfragment: Het gevecht met Leviathan. Een verhaal over de politieke ordening in Europa, 1815–1965
{{DEFAULTSORT:Langrand-Dumonceau, Andre 1826 births 1900 deaths Belgian financiers People from Tervuren Belgian expatriates in Italy