25 Facts About Jacques Laffitte

Jacques Laffitte was an important figure in the development of new banking techniques during the early stages of industrialization in France.

Jacques Laffitte rebounded financially in 1836 with his creation of the Caisse Generale du Commerce et de l'Industrie, a forerunner of French investment banks of the second half of the 19th century such as the Credit Mobilier.

Jacques Laffitte was born in 1767 at Bayonne in the French Basque Country, one of four sons and six daughters of Pierre Jacques Laffitte, a master carpenter.

Jacques Laffitte apprenticed with his father for a time, but found clerking positions with a local notary and merchant.

Jacques Laffitte was a shrewd, cosmopolitan businessman who prospered from the Revolution.

Jacques Laffitte helped to bankroll Napoleon's rise to power and became a founder of the Bank of France in 1800 and president of its directing Council of Regents.

Jacques Laffitte became Perregaux's right-hand man in the private bank and was promoted to a partnership in 1806.

Jacques Laffitte became president of the Chamber of Commerce of Paris and was appointed as a judge of the Tribunal de commerce de la Seine.

When Napoleon's estate was being contested later in 1826, Jacques Laffitte calculated his bank's obligation at 3,856,121 francs, interest included.

Jacques Laffitte was president and Casimir and Scipion Perier were among the administrators of this capital mobilizing venture.

In 1818, along with fellow banker and industrialist Benjamin Delessert, Jacques Laffitte was a key figure in the establishment of the first French savings bank, the Caisse d'Epargne et de Prevoyance de Paris.

Practically all of the members of the board of regents of the Bank of France, where Jacques Laffitte was then governor, were listed as administrators of the new bank.

Jacques Laffitte was reaching the peak of his good fortune by 1818.

Jacques Laffitte was sufficiently wealthy by then to be able to purchase the 17th century Chateau de Maisons, near Paris, designed by the famous architect Francois Mansart.

Jacques Laffitte's consortium obtained one-half of the total value of the loans made to the government.

Jacques Laffitte viewed the return of the Bourbons favorably at first.

Jacques Laffitte lost favor in 1825 by voting for Villele's plan for indemnifying notables for lands confiscated during the Revolution, but regained popular support in 1828 when his daughter, Albine Laffitte, was married to Napoleon-Joseph Ney, the son of the honored Marechal Michel Ney, duc d'Elchingen, the prince de Moskowa.

Jacques Laffitte was one of the earliest and most determined advocates for ousting Charles X and his ministers and establishing a new government under Louis Philippe I, the duc d'Orleans, whose father, Philippe Egalite, had supported the Revolution of 1789.

Charles X fled to England, his ministers were arrested, Louis-Philippe I assumed the throne and Jacques Laffitte became president of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Finances.

Jacques Laffitte's government, torn between the necessity for preserving order in France and the need to conciliate the Parisian populace, succeeded in doing neither.

Jacques Laffitte would keep his seat in the Chamber after 1831, but he would never lead or be part of another ministry.

Jacques Laffitte put his Paris home on the rue d'Artois and his art collection up for sale.

Jacques Laffitte created the Caisse Generale du Commerce et de l'Industrie to help provide long-term credit for industrial enterprise.

Undoubtedly, had he lived longer, Jacques Laffitte would have led the Caisse Generale enthusiastically into the risky business of financing railroad construction in France.

Jacques Laffitte died in Paris on 26 May 1844, at 77 years of age.