Die Schwarzenberg-Bank

The “k. k. privilegierte et octroyierte Wiener Kommerzial-, Leih und Wechselbank” – or “Schwarzenberg Bank”, as it was also called by contemporaries because of its most prominent shareholder, Prince Joseph Schwarzenberg, represents one of the earliest limited liability companies in the former Habsburg Empire. It was founded as the first joint-stock bank in Vienna, and there is even some evidence that it was the earliest limited liability company in Austria of today.