Deutsche Banken auf dem Weg in die zweite Globalisierung

Abstract

Abstract This article introduces the problematic situation of the great German banks and some non-German banks during the so-called second globalization since the 1970s. It formulates the questions that should be answered in the following contributions, each for a particular bank or group of banks. The most important overarching questions are firstly, to what extent banks were the driving force in the interconnectedness of cross-border money and capital flows and, secondly, to what extent they acted as triggers of the severe financial and/or sovereign debt crises during the last half century.