On June 1, 1816, Emperor Francis I signed the “privilegirte oesterreichische National-Bank“ into existence—which makes today’s Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) one of the oldest central banks in the world. Along with the world itself, the Nationalbank has undergone profound changes since its founding days and formative years. Its initial role, that of financing government spending as the treasury’s banker, is now outlawed under EU law whereas central bank independence has been enshrined in law, to enable the Nationalbank to ensure stable prices and sound financial markets. In these 200 years, Austria’s national currency has changed five times—from the florin to the crown to the schilling to the reichsmark and back to the schilling and most recently to the euro, which Austria now shares with 18 other European countries. Largely drawing on previously unpublished material from the OeNB’s archives, this book chronicles the memories of the Nationalbank with descriptive visuals and engaging vignettes of workaday life at the central bank, thus bringing to life 200 eventful years of Austrian history.
