Zsigmond Kornfeld

In 1878, Albert Rothschild appointed him to direct its partner institution, Hungarian General Credit Bank, in Budapest, Hungary.

Under him, the bank became involved in railway, shipping, flour-milling, and sugar-milling enterprises as well as the development of the port of Fiume and the expansion of the Ganz Iron and Machinery Works.

In 1891, as a result of his bank's industrial prominence, he was appointed to the governing body of the Budapest Stock Exchange.

In 1895, after manipulating the bank's dividend and creating an artificial panic, he was temporarily so unpopular he went on vacation abroad.

He explained his actions as for the country's economic good, and his bank's industrial prominence made this excuse appear probable.

[5] A patron and collector of the arts, he purchased the Franklin Company, Hungary's main publishing house, and placed emphasis on genuine quality.

He informed the Russian ambassador that while he conducted the negotiations as a banker at the request of his government, he wouldn't accept a mark of favor from a country that persecuted and massacred Jews as Russia did during the 1903 pogroms.