Andries Pels

The bend of the Herengracht, seen from the Leidsestraat with the house of Andries Pels on the far left. Painting by Gerrit Adriaensz Berckheyde

Andries Pels (2 September 1655, in Amsterdam – 8 February 1731) was a wealthy Dutch banker and insurer.[1] He began as someone who had devoted himself to the merchandise trade, along with his brother Guillelmo, but after the latter's death in 1705 he concentrated more and more on the money and exchange business. In 1707, he founded the firm Andries Pels & Sons, the largest merchant bank of the day, that lasted until 1774.

The firm traded in sugar, tobacco, cocoa, rice, rye, salt and hemp, but also financed salvages of stranded ships. After the foundation of St. Peterburg, Pels had ships loaded at Kronstadt with grain, linseed, tallow, potash, and tar, as well as rhubarb. Between December 1712 and March 1714, James Brydges, paymaster of the Forces, conducted transactions through Pels' account with a total value of more than half a million guilders.[2][3] His bank money transactions at the Wisselbank doubled between 1686 and in 1726 and surpassed Clifford & Co.[4] In 1715 the turnover of the firm at the Wisselbank was 21 million; 1725 26 million; 1736 20 million; in 1746 20 million; in 1755 20 million and in 1765 18 million.[5][6][7]

Pels was the banker of France in the era of John Law.[8] After the death of Andries Pels in 1731, his two sons continued the firm; in 1739 with Willem Munter, their brother-in-law. In 1744, the bank lent 15 million to France.[9] The bank was involved in France's payment of war reparations to prisoners of war after the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748). Until 1750, the firm was the leading banking house in Europe, "shrouded in a haze of wealth, fame and arcane power",[10] but hardly seems to have grown any more in contrast to Hope & Co.

Johanna Sara Pels (1702-1791)

In 1757 Frederick the Great wanted to take out a loan of half a million from the bank. The mayors of Amsterdam referred Hendric Bicker to Pieter Steyn.[11] At the end of the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), the bank temporarily revived. During the Amsterdam banking crisis of 1763 there was a great lack of cash; the bank was not prepared to prop up Leendert Pieter de Neufville,[12][13][14] but preferred a loan to Heinrich Carl von Schimmelmann the owner of four large cotton and sugar cane plantations in the Danish West Indies (today the American Virgin Islands in the Caribbean).

In 1767 Jan Bernd Bicker started to work as an apprentice; for years later he became a member of the board. In 1771 the bank together with Adrian Hope bought negotiaties for 904,000 guilders.[15] It is unclear how much the bank was involved crisis of 1772 and the fall of the EIC-stocks.[16] In May 1773 the bank went on for another year. When his uncle died in March 1774, the company came to an end.[17]

  1. ^ Wijnman, H.F. (1974) Historische Gids van Amsterdam, p. 376
  2. ^ J.G. van Dillen (1970) Van rijkdom en regenten. Handboek tot de economische en sociale geschiedenis van Nederland tijdens de Republiek, p. 456-457
  3. ^ Brandon, P. (2018). ‘The whole art of war is reduced to money’: Remittances, short-term credit and financial intermediation in Anglo-Dutch military finance, 1688–1713. Financial History Review, 25(1), 19-41. doi:10.1017/S0968565017000282
  4. ^ Pit Dehning (2012) Geld in Amsterdam. Wisselbank en wisselkoersen, 1650-1725, Bijlage 4: Bankgeldtransacties van kassiers via de Amsterdamse Wisselbank, p. 420, 412
  5. ^ Jong, E.E. de (1939) De economische crisis van 1763 te Amsterdam, p. 120
  6. ^ Dillen, J.G. van (1970) Van rijkdom en regenten. Handboek tot de economische en sociale geschiedenis van Nederland tijdens de Republiek, p. 457
  7. ^ De Peuter, Roger (2015) Paarden, geldhandel en haute finance tijdens en na de Spaanse Successie Oorlog. De opkomst en de ondergang van de Brusselse koopman Nicolas Poullain (1678-1729). In: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, tome 93, fasc. 2. Histoire médiévale moderne et contemporaine - Middeleeuwse moderne en hedendaagse geschiedenis. pp. 343-396. DOI
  8. ^ Dillen, J.G. van (1970) Van rijkdom en regenten. Handboek tot de economische en sociale geschiedenis van Nederland tijdens de Republiek, p. 456-457
  9. ^ Willem Bentinck aan de gravin van Portland
  10. ^ Joost Jonker en Keetie Sluyterman (2000) Thuis op de wereldmarkt. Nederlandse handelshuizen door de eeuwen heen, p. 95
  11. ^ J.E. Elias (1903-1905) De vroedschap van Amsterdam, p. 1062-1063
  12. ^ J.G. van Dillen (1970) Van rijkdom en regenten. Handboek tot de economische en sociale geschiedenis van Nederland tijdens de Republiek, p. 605-607
  13. ^ Roberds, W. & S. Quinn (2012) Responding to a Shadow Banking Crisis: the Lessons of 1763
  14. ^ Roberds, W. & S. Quinn (2014) The Bank of Amsterdam Through the Lens of Monetary Competition
  15. ^ dd 21 November 1771, p. 143-147
  16. ^ At Spes non Fracta: Hope & Co. 1770–1815 by M.G. Buist, p. 22
  17. ^ Amsterdam City Archive 5/5/1773