Abstract
In this chapter, the continuing evolution of those merchant banks that survived the interwar upheavals is traced. The transformation from high-risk, capital-intensive activities in favour of lower-risk, advisory services continue to be played out. While geopolitical change impacted some of the mercantile focused firms, the larger surviving merchant banks faced a difficult strategic choice. Those merchant banks that followed high-risk strategies often with inadequate capital backing and weak management controls inevitably disappeared. By the end of the millennium, the surviving firms were focused on investment management and corporate finance advisory services.
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O’Sullivan, B. (2018). Endgame. In: From Crisis to Crisis. Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96698-4_11
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