Holmens Kanal, Landmandsbanken

Facts

Grand setting for ups and downs

By Jens Toftgaard, Ph.d.-stipendiat (12 stories)

Since 1875, the headquarters of Danske Bank, formerly Landmandsbanken, have had a prominent location at Peschiers Gård on Holmens Kanal in central Copenhagen. In 1797, wholesale merchant Peschier commissioned C.F. Harsdorff, architect by royal appointment to the Danish Court, to design a grand residence in the Classicist style of the era. But by 1850, the fine proportions of the Harsdorff building were lost with the addition of another storey. Landmandsbanken fitted out the property for its banking services, including the first safe-deposit box facility for private customers. For years, one of the bank's main competitors was the neighbouring Handelsbanken, until 1990, when the two merged as Danske Bank. Today, the Danske Bank headquarters fill the entire block between Holmens Kanal and Laksegade.

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Denmark's biggest bank crash

Story written by Jens Toftgaard

Time / Periode 1922

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By the time of its golden jubilee in October 1921, Landmandsbanken was the largest bank in the Nordic Region, but the colossus had feet of clay. The directors had inflated its value by letting the bank buy up its own shares. Meanwhile, they were attempting to conceal massive losses on unsecured lending, not to mention the directors' own failed speculation in stocks and shares. By September 1922, no amount of creative accounting could avert bankruptcy. The customers queued along the canal to withdraw their money, while the bank's errand boys hauled money in sacks across the street from the Danish central bank, Nationalbanken. The Government took over the insolvent estate, but it took several attempts before the bank, with the assistance of investors such as shipping magnate A.P. Møller, was reconstructed in 1928.