From the Austrian National Bank to the Austro-Hungarian Bank

The independent central bank was not established until 1878, when the joint bank of the Austro–Hungarian Monarchy, Austro–Hungarian Bank was established with headquarters in both Vienna and Budapest.

Industry, transportation, telecommunication, coal- and iron-mining and urbanisation took a leap after the Austro–Hungarian Compromise. Budapest became a cosmopolitan city. National income grew almost fivefold between 1867 and 1913. Several smaller credit institutions and savings banks operated besides the five major banks. Austro–Hungarian Bank was responsible for the stability of the currency. The silver-based Austrian forint was replaced by the gold-based korona in 1892, on a proposal by Sándor Wekerle, Minister of Finance, with the professional assistance of Sándor Popovics.

A call for tender was announced in 1898 for the construction of the Austro–Hungarian Bank building in Budapest. The contract was awarded to Ignác Alpár, who designed one of the most modern buildings of the time, taking into consideration the special functions of the bank, and included modern lighting, heating and cooling systems, water-heated boilers, a central vacuum cleaner, and a paternoster. Construction was performed by domestic materials by Hungarian workers and artists. The decorations were also intended to emphasise the reliability of the bank. The building was handed over in record time, within three years, in the spring of 1905. It became a historical heritage building in 1976.

The year 1918 marked the dissolution of the Monarchy and the end of the joint bank, and successor states established their own financial infrastructures. Hungarian Royal State Note Issuing Institute which performed certain central bank functions was replaced by the independent Magyar Nemzeti Bank in 1924.