Hottinguer family
Their names Hans, Heinrich and Rudolf – or, in their French variants, Jean, Henri and Rodolphe – have marked the family dynasty for over 500 years.
Zurich rapidly prospered during the second half of the 17th century with the end of the Thirty Year War (1618–1648), the Treaty of Westphalia, and Switzerland's independence from the Holy Roman Empire proclaiming the Confederacy's neutrality.
The year of Johannes's birth was marked by the end of the 2nd Battle of Villmergen, following which Zurich was fully able to capitalize on its position as a major European crossroads and trading center.
Johannes's career would be further aided by the fact that his uncle, Christof Hottinger, was Deputy of the City Council for the powerful saffron corporation and Treasurer of the Grossmünster.
In 1734, Johannes married the daughter of Johannès Cramer, a draper and likewise Deputy of the City Council as representative of the saffron corporation.
But Jean-Conrad was less interested in cotton trading, silk printing or smelting than in impressing the economist M. Wolf, with whom he resided, with his aptitude for drawing and mathematics.
As he became more and more interested in finance, Jean-Conrad eventually answered the call of his uncle Johann Heinrich Hottinger to join him in Geneva in 1783.
This enabled him to start clerking for Le Couteulx & Cie, a highly reputable business, which had been ennobled in the time of Louis XIV.
A few months later, in early 1787, the new bank was listed in the Royal Almanac, with offices at Rue Croix-des-Petits-Champs, Hôtel de Beaupreaux.
Hottinger, highly intelligent and capable, aims to immediately make a fortune; I only wish to preserve mine,” wrote de Rougemont.
[citation needed] The split then became political, as Jean-Conrad Hottinger pushed to extend the assignats (notes issued as paper currency from 1789 to 1796 by the revolutionary government on the security of confiscated lands) to the financial world.
[citation needed] As of 15 October 1790, Jean-Conrad Hottinguer found himself the sole owner of a banking institution that bore his name.
Jean-Conrad had by now born out Napoleon's defeat – playing no small role in handling France's massive war debt – as well as the July Revolution of 1830.
At the age of 23, he sailed to New Orleans to establish new trade business with America, made possible by the bank's fleet of ships built by his father.
He was quick to recognize the potential of the new technologies of his time, notably electricity, and participated in many of the business ventures linked to the economic development of Europe in the mid-19th century.
In 1890, the bank celebrated its centennial, as Rodolphe Hottinger continued to pursue his father's preoccupation with the development of France's industrial infrastructure.
By the time of World War I, Rodolphe could rely on the help of his son Henri Hottinguer (1868–1943), who was present in 1919 at the signing of the Armistice with Germany, and on whose shoulders would fall the task of coping with the Great Depression.
As he worked hard to keep the business afloat and preserve the family domain of Castle Piple, Rodolphe consigned his memories of the war to a black notebook.
[citation needed] The Swiss division of Hottinger Banking Group closed its doors for the last time in October 2015, due to the increased regulatory demands in Switzerland.
The transaction, subject to the UK regulator's consent, would see the clients and staff of Edmond de Rothschild Private Merchant Banking LLP transfer to Hottinger.
