Crédit Mobilier (officially the Société Générale du Crédit Mobilier, or General Society of Home Credit) was a French banking company created by the Pereire brothers, and one of the most important financial institutions of the world during the mid-19th century. It had a major role in the financing of numerous railroads and other infrastructure projects by mobilizing the savings of middle class French investors as capital for vast lending schemes. The Crédit Mobilier investments created vast debts for the countries which accepted these infrastructure loans and was thus indirectly involved in the European occupations of the countries whose governments defaulted on these loans during the worldwide economic depression of the 1870s.
It became a powerful and dynamic funding agency for major projects in France, Europe, North Africa and the world at large. As Napoleon III redeveloped Paris, the Crédit Mobilier speculated on real estate with inside information and collaborated with Hausmann to develop neighborhoods such as rue de Rivoli, Opéra, and place de l'Etoile. Beyond France, it specialized in mining development; it funded other banks including the Imperial Ottoman Bank and the Austrian Mortgage Bank; it funded railway construction and insurance companies, as well as building contractors. The bank had large investments in transatlantic steamship lines, urban gas lighting, a newspaper and the Paris public transit system.
In 1866/7, the bank underwent a severe crisis, and the Pereire brothers wereforced to resign at the demand of their enemy, the Banque de France; the Crédit Mobilier never recovered.
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