Crédit Mobilier

The Crédit Mobilier (officially the Société Générale du Crédit Mobilier, lit. 'general company for movable [collateral-backed] credit') was a French banking company created in 1852 by the Pereire brothers, and one of the world’s most significant and influential financial institutions in the mid-19th century.

The Crédit Mobilier had a major role in the financing of numerous railroads and other infrastructure projects by mobilizing the savings of middle class French investors as capital for vast lending schemes. Its operations resulted in vast debts for the countries which accepted its infrastructure loans, and the bank was thus indirectly involved in European encroachment on countries whose governments subsequently defaulted on these loans, not least during the worldwide economic depression of the 1870s.

It became a powerful and dynamic funding agent for major projects in France, Europe, North Africa and the world at large. As Napoleon III redeveloped Paris, the Crédit Mobilier speculated on real estate with inside information and collaborated with Baron Haussmann to develop neighborhoods such as rue de Rivoli, Opéra, and place de l'Etoile. Beyond France, it specialized in mining and railway development, for which it also funded or sponsored other banks including the Imperial Ottoman Bank and the Austrian Mortgage Bank, as well as insurance companies and building contractors. The bank had large investments in transatlantic steamship lines, urban gas lighting, a newspaper and the Paris public transit system.

In 1866–1867, the bank underwent a severe crisis and the Pereire brothers were forced to resign at the demand of their longtime adversaries in the Banque de France. The Crédit Mobilier never recovered its former importance.