Banking in Germany is a highly leveraged industry, as its average leverage ratio as of 11 October 2008 is 52 to 1 ; its short-term liabilities are equal to 60% of the German GDP or 167% of its national debt.
Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. KG, commonly known as Berenberg Bank and also branded as simply Berenberg, is a Hamburg-based multinational full-service investment bank. It was founded by the Flemish-origined Berenberg family in 1590 and is the world's oldest merchant bank and also the world's oldest or second oldest bank, depending on the definition. Its owners, the Berenberg/Gossler family, belonged to the ruling elite of Hanseatic merchants of the city-republic of Hamburg and several family members served in the city-state's government from 1735. Like many other merchant bankers, the Berenbergs were originally cloth merchants. The bank's name refers to Johann Berenberg and his son-in-law Johann Hinrich Gossler, and has remained unchanged since 1791. The bank has operated continuously since 1590 and is still part-owned by members of the Berenberg-Gossler family.
Ludwig Erdwin Seyler was a Hamburg banker, merchant and politician. He was by marriage a member of the Hanseatic Berenberg banking dynasty, and was a partner in the Hamburg firm Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. for 48 years (1788–1836), for 46 years as the company's senior partner. Seyler was one of the first merchants and bankers from modern Germany to establish trade relations with the United States and East Asia. He served as a member of the government of Hamburg during the Napoleonic Wars and later as the President of the Commercial Deputation, one of the city-state's main political bodies, and as a member of the Hamburg Parliament. Ludwig Seyler was a son of the Swiss-born theatre director Abel Seyler and a son-in-law of the bankers Johann Hinrich Gossler and Elisabeth Berenberg through his marriage to their eldest daughter Anna Henriette Gossler.
Johann Hinrich Gossler was a German banker and grand burgher of Hamburg, a member of the Hanseatic Berenberg/Gossler banking dynasty and the owner and head of the firm Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co.. He was married to Elisabeth Berenberg (1749–1822), the only heir of the Berenberg banking family. Gossler Islands in Antarctica are named in honour of his family.
Baron Johann von Berenberg-Gossler, known as "John," was a German banker from the city-state of Hamburg and owner and head of Berenberg Bank from 1879 until his death.
Rudolf Berenberg was a Hamburg merchant and banker and a member of the Berenberg banking family. He served as President of the Commerz-Deputation 1728–1729 and as a Hamburg Senator from 1735. He was the son of Cornelius Berenberg, and was married to Anna Elisabeth Amsinck (1690–1748), a daughter of Paul Amsinck (1649–1706) and Christina Adelheid Capelle (1663–1730).
Paul Berenberg was a Hamburg merchant and banker and a member of the Berenberg banking family. He served as a Senator of Hamburg, succeeding his father Rudolf Berenberg.
Baron Cornelius von Berenberg-Gossler was a German banker, a member of the illustrious Berenberg-Gossler banking dynasty, and owner and head of Berenberg Bank from 1913. He withdrew from active management of the bank in 1932.
Baron of Berenberg-Gossler is a title in the German nobility, specifically the nobility of the Kingdom of Prussia, created in 1910 for banker Johann von Berenberg-Gossler of the Hamburg Hanseatic Berenberg-Gossler family. The title is held by one person at a time and is tied to an entailed estate (Fideikommiss), Gut Niendorf. For this reason, it is not always inherited by the eldest son. The title is currently held by humanitarian Cornelius von Berenberg-Gossler. The first three title holders were all heads of Berenberg Bank.
Baron Heinrich von Berenberg-Gossler (1907–1997) was a German banker, a member of the illustrious Berenberg-Gossler banking dynasty, and owner and head of Berenberg Bank.
Cornelius Berenberg was a Hamburg grand burgher, merchant banker, a member of the Berenberg family, and owner of Berenberg Bank. His grandfather Hans Berenberg (1561–1626) had fled from Antwerp with his brother Paul Berenberg (1566–1645) and established the Berenberg merchant house in Hamburg. In Hamburg, the Berenberg family formed part of the Dutch merchant colony. Cornelius Berenberg was the first to engage in merchant banking. He developed the company into a very successful merchant house and merchant bank, and forged trade links with France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Scandinavia and Russia. Family connections of the Berenbergs were instrumental to the development, especially in Livorno and Lisbon with its colonies of wealthy Dutch merchants.
Elisabeth Berenberg was a Hamburg heiress, merchant banker and a member of the Berenberg family. She was the last male line member of the Flemish-origined Hanseatic Berenberg family in Hamburg, and ancestral mother of the von Berenberg-Gossler family, the current owners of Berenberg Bank. She is also noted as the only woman ever to serve as a partner and take an active leadership role (1790–1800) at Berenberg Bank since the company was established in 1590 by her family.
Berenberg is a surname. Some notable people with the surname include:
Johann Berenberg was a Hamburg merchant banker. He was a co-owner of Berenberg Bank from 1748, with his brother, senator Paul Berenberg, and after the latter's death in 1768 the sole owner. The bank still bears his name. He was also noted as an art collector and held several public offices in the city-state of Hamburg.
Hans-Joachim von Berenberg-Consbruch, known as Hans-Joachim Consbruch from 1940 to 1976, is a German banker, who served as a personally liable partner at Berenberg Bank from 1978 to 2005. He has also been a board member of the Berenberg Bank Foundation, a philanthropic foundation. He is the honorary consul of Monaco in Hamburg.
Henriette Wegner, née Henriette Seyler, was a Norwegian businesswoman and philanthropist, a member of the Hanseatic Berenberg banking dynasty of Hamburg and the wife of the Norwegian industrialist Benjamin Wegner. She was briefly a co-owner of Berenberg Bank, and was also noted for her work for the homeless in Norway. During her life she was a citizen of the city-republic of Hamburg, of France during the Napoleonic Wars, and finally of Norway from 1824.
The Gossler family, including the Berenberg-Gossler branch, is a Hanseatic and partially noble banking family from Hamburg.
Anna Henriette Gossler was a Hamburg banker, heiress and socialite.
