The European Association for Banking and Financial History was first established in 1990. It was founded by a number of central and commercial banks with the purpose of documenting common backgrounds, roots and developments. Quite naturally, the fostering of scholarly research was also an immediate mission. After fourteen years as the European Association for Banking History, the recent change in name to include financial history reflects the expansion of the Association’s activities into complementary areas of research and demonstrates its commitment to responding to the ever-changing world of modern finance and the ongoing process of economic integration.

Supporting the exchange of historical and archival methodologies remains a key activity within the EABH’s agenda as is the promotion of dialogue between top managers, historians and archivists. The Association meets once a year in a plenary conference, which addresses issues pertaining to banking and financial history at a broader level while specific programs for archivists have been organized to meet their particular needs, such as the 2000 European training course for junior archivists supported by the Business Archives Council.

At the end of 2001 the Archive Year 2003 was launched. The aim of this project was to explore the current situation of historical archives in banks as well as circulating fresh ideas to inspire their management, since many changes have affected our profession. The Archive Year 2003 project consisted of three workshops attended by archivists both from inside and outside the Association. Following the conclusions of these workshops, a final statement was devised - the Code of European Best Practice – for the specific attention of banks’ and other financial institutions’ top managers. Although this Code is only available for members, an in depth description of this product can be found at the end of this article.

 

Maintaining and improving internal archive services within banks is a crucial strategical issue, due to the merger frenzy that has caused not only profound institutional changes and severe downsizing processes, but also a loss of the sense of corporate identity in many situations.

The larger archives which result from mergers are more vital than ever for historical interest but at the same time require professional initiative and appraisal efforts, as well as accurate planning and informed, often predictive, decisions.

 

The papers presented at the Archive Year 2003 three workshops are available on the Internet (www.bankinghistory.de) and have also already been published, thanks to the efficiency and commitment of the EABH Frankfurt staff. In order to maximise the practical implications of the workshops, the editors of each volume have also included a set of guidelines for best archive practices from the perspective of the theme in question.

 

The topics chosen were as follows:

29 May 2002 Central Corporate Archives during and after Mergers, Scandic Hotel Sergel Plaza, Stockholm

24 - 25 October 2002 Archives and IT Solutions, hosted by Ottoman Bank and Archives Research Centre, Istanbul

13 - 14 March 2003 Appraising Banking Archives, hosted by Banca Intesa, Milan.

Participants were asked to provide a picture of the real challenges faced and of the solutions which have been adopted to overcome them. You can read or download these very interesting papers, based on the sound experiences of archivists from various countries. They offer varied and updated panoply of helpful managing tools for banking archives.

The number of participants was beyond all expectations and, building on this success, the EABH organised another very successful workshop which took place on 27 May, 2004. Not to be seen as a direct continuation of the Archive Year Series and rather as an open forum for exchange between every level of an institution, this workshop entitled “Archives and Corporate Culture” permitted a more precise definition of this general concept. With an audience ranging from archivists and historians to the top management of banking and financial institutions, this event not only made the specific concrete achievements accessible to other archivists, but emphasised the central role archives play within the definition and support of Corporate Culture.