Johan Palmstruch

[1] Johan (Hans) Wittmacher was born in Riga where his father Reinholt was a merchant.

He began submitting proposals for banking institutions to King Charles X Gustav after 1654.

The first two such proposals were rejected but the third, which promised half the bank's profits to the crown, was accepted.

He was made a Swedish nobleman under the surname Palmstruch and become a commissioner at the National College of Commerce.

[4] Palmstruch's second innovation, and his solution to this problem, was the introduction in 1661 of credit paper (Kreditivsedlar), the first European banknotes, which would be exchangeable at any time for the gold and silver coins they were replacing.