Finance & Insurance Companies

The Hamburg Exchange opened in 1558 as the first German stock exchange. The oldest private bank in Germany, Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co., was established in 1590, and the oldest extant record of a "fire contract" dates back to 1591. This type of house owners' association spawned the modern-day insurance industry. Founded in 1676 to collateralize the financial risk of city fires, Hamburger Feuerkasse is the world's oldest insurance company.  

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(HWF)

Today, Hamburg retains an important role in the German finance sector. On the one hand, banks seek to profit from international trade flows by engaging in foreign trade financing, and on the other, the wealth which exists in Hamburg calls for optimal asset management. 157 financial institutions are represented. The range is completed by a lot of financial service providers. In total, there are approximately 25,000 jobs in Hamburg’s banking sector.

The Hamburg Exchange comprises Hamburg’s five individual exchange institutions – the Allgemeine Börse (general exchange), the Stock Exchange, the Insurance Exchange, the Grain Exchange and the Coffee Exchange – recently united by the Hamburg Exchange Internet platform, which also includes the information exchanges, currently 11 in number, of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce.

Hamburg ranks third among the insurance industry centres in Germany, and all insurance classes are represented. One-fourth of the 300 insurance companies sited in Hamburg also have their head offices here. This includes the German Insurance Exchange, which is unique in that it serves as a place for initiating and concluding contracts, particularly for industrial and commercial insurance coverage (transport, fire and liability). Better known internationally is Euler Hermes Kreditversicherungs-AG, the leading credit insurer in Germany and one of the world’s largest. The German federal government provides export credit guarantees through Euler Hermes – whose experts have an in-depth knowledge of even the remotest regions. Just as Hamburg’s trade sector as a whole, they are familiar with the world’s most unusual and difficult markets. The insurance industry in Hamburg provides employment for more than 22,000.