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How it started
1870–1918
Commerz- und Diskonto-Bank was founded on 26 February 1870 by Theodor Wille, a merchant successful in South American trade, along with other trading houses and private bankers in Hamburg. The goal was to provide financial resources to Hamburg's trade and facilitate international commerce. The banking houses of Mendelssohn & Co., M. M. Warburg & Co., Hesse Newman, and B.H. Goldschmidt were among the founding investors. In 1873 the bank sponsored the creation of an affiliate in London, the London and Hanseatic Bank, of which it subscribed about half of the shares.
In 1881, Commerz- und Diskonto-Bank was among the founders of Nationalbank für Deutschland in Berlin, along with Anglo-Austrian Bank, Vienna's newly established Länderbank, the latter's affiliate Ungarische Landesbank, and Breslauer Disconto-Bank Friedenthal & Co. By 1891, it had become the largest bank in Hamburg by total lending. It participated in the rapid industrial and commercial development of the German Empire by providing trade finance, credit to small businesses, and investments in various industries that included shipping, electricity generation, mining, chemistry, and manufacturing. In 1897 it acquired Jacques Dreyfus & Co., a bank established 1868 as Dreyfus-Jeidels in Frankfurt, which also had a branch in Berlin. The bank shortened its name to Commerz- und Disconto-Bank in 1898.
In 1901 the bank joined the Reichsanleihe-Konsortium, a group of several dozen banks that placed loans for the German imperial government. In 1905 it acquired Berliner Bank (est. 1889 following the liquidation of the cooperative Berliner Handelsbank e.G., est. 1878) and from then until 1931 maintained two head offices: in Hamburg and Berlin, the latter at Behrensstrasse 46 / Charlottenstrasse 47. It acquired a number of regional and private banks, including B. Magnus (est. 1826 in Hanover) in 1897 and Altonaer Bank (Altona) in 1910.
During World War I, the London and Hanseatic Bank, the subsidiary established in 1873, was seized by the British authorities. Other German-owned banks were also seized. In 1917, Commerz began making acquisitions in Germany. By 1923 it had acquired 40 local banks.
1918–1933
From Wikipedia’s article on Commerzbank AG, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3