Corporations, Stock Exchanges, and the Amsterdam Bank of Exchange (Late Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries)

An influx of southern Dutch (‘Belgian’) refugees around 1590 into especially Amsterdam fueled a booming atmosphere in The Netherlands. The city council regulated the markets but else let things go. The Amsterdam Bank of Exchange could accept bills of exchange, transfer money and lend to governmental bodies and the Dutch East India Company. It provided bank money to private customers backed by gold and silver deposits. With also the world’s first large securities exchange, the stable Amsterdam financial market became exemplary and a multi-faced cooperation model served the Dutch expansion into the world. While still existing, the Bank’s financial innovation role was quietly taken over by private banks.