Economic historians generally agree that wealth sufficient for industrialization existed in Western Europe by early in the nineteenth century and that mobilizing those funds presented the critical challenge for industrial development. Capital mobilization proceeds first through collection of idle funds from the public, and then via dispersion of the gathered funds to entrepreneurs in the form of loans, advances, or other types of credit. By repeating this process, the banking system multiply expands the money supply and effectively redistributes the economy's capital. These banking functions increase the share of the economy's resources directed to productive investment. To mobilize capital successfully on an ongoing basis, banks must continually induce savers to purchase deposits or shares and then locate borrowers to use the acquired funds. Such capital mobilization forms the core activity of most financial institutions, and, as a result, theories of economic growth indicate a role for banks in the expansion of the economy.

In the German context, the corporate commercial-investment banks – known interchangeably as universal, mixed, or credit banks – take the leading role in the story of industrial credit. As Chapter 2 pointed out, questions about the nature of the banks' involvement in matching savers and entrepreneurs persist. This chapter therefore takes up the problem of detailing, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the development of the German corporate financial system.