Bank deutscher Länder

The Bank deutscher Länder (BdL, ) was a central bank established in 1948 to serve West Germany, issuing the Deutsche Mark. It was replaced in 1957 by the Deutsche Bundesbank.

Background

In the immediate aftermath of German defeat in 1945, the Reichsbank was placed under joint Allied custodianship pending its liquidation. In line with the Morgenthau Plan, the American authorities in November 1945 proposed a radically decentralized plan that would have organized a separate financial system in each of the , with minimal central coordination. After some hesitancy, the French authorities rallied that vision; the British authorities were initially reluctant, but gradually aligned with U.S. views following the establishment of the Bizone on .

Thus, Land central banks () were created on in American-occupied Munich (for Bavaria), Stuttgart (for Württemberg-Baden), and Wiesbaden (for Hesse), followed in March by French-occupied Tübingen (for Württemberg-Hohenzollern), Freiburg im Breisgau (for South Baden), and Mainz (for Rhineland-Palatinate), then American-occupied Bremen on , and eventually British-occupied Düsseldorf (for North Rhine-Westphalia), Hanover (for Lower Saxony), Kiel (for Schleswig-Holstein) and Hamburg by the Spring of 1948.

Establishment and development until 1957

In 1947, newly appointed U.S. Military Governor Lucius D. Clay decided, against directives from Washington, that Germany needed a central bank instead of a mere board bringing together the for joint policy decisions. An agreement on that concept was reached among the three Western occupying forces on , resulting in the establishment of the Bank deutscher Länder on , initially formed by the in the Bizone.

On , the BdL introduced the Deutsche Mark in the three western zones of occupation. On , the of the French zone joined the BdL. The capital stock of the BdL, 100,000 Deutsche Mark, was provided by the . When the BdL was established, 300 people worked there, but by 1949, their number had already increased to 1,450. Even after the Federal Republic of Germany was founded in May 1949, the BdL remained subject to the control of the three Western Allied powers until 1951.

Institutions of the BdL were the board of directors and the ''Zentralbankrat'' (Central Banking Council), consisting of the nine presidents of the ''Landeszentralbanken''. These officials elected the president of the board of directors, who then chose the other members of the board. The board's task was to enforce the resolutions of the ''Zentralbankrat''.

Effective 1 August 1957, the BdL and the central banks of the German states were merged in the new Deutsche Bundesbank with the ''Landeszentralbanken'' transformed into mere subsidiaries of the Bundesbank in accordance with the Federal law establishing the ''Bundesbank''.

See also

* German mark
* Deutsche Bundesbank

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bank deutscher Lander
Banks based in Frankfurt
Germany
Banks established in 1948
1948 establishments in Germany
1957 disestablishments in West Germany
German companies established in 1948
Banks disestablished in 1957
Defunct banks of Germany
German economic policy