1864-1914 An exchange is born
- The Hungarian stock exchange started operations in 1864 in Pest
- Its first president was Frigyes Kochmeister, who
led the institution for more than 30 years, until 1900
- In 1868 it was merged with the Granary,
From 1873 it took the name of the Budapest Commodity and Stock Exchange
- The first stock market crash in 1873 shook
- The golden age began in the 1890s,
by the turn of the century there were more than 300,
at the outbreak of the First World War, more than 500
securities were traded on it and
Europe's leading commodity exchange
- It was closed from 1914 to 1918
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1914-1948 From World War to World War
- The stock exchange was closed until 1914-1918, but OTC trading was still brisk
- The galloping inflationary environment that followed the World War pushed stock market turnover to extraordinary heights, only to be halted by the introduction of the new currency, the penguin, in 1925
- 1931-32 the stock exchange was closed again, this time because of the economic crisis
- Between the two world wars, the government took a number of restrictive measures to regulate the trade, so it could no longer reach its former heyday, but it remained open until 1944
- After the war, the stock exchange reopened in 1946, but it was only a swansong. Its role gradually declined with the nationalisation of banks and then companies, and it was closed as a company in 1948
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"What is needed is a serious, persistent will on the part of each of us, directed to visit, use and animate the young institution frequently, perhaps at first with some sacrifice of our habits, our desires and our interests."
Baron Frigyes Kochmeister (1816-1907)
President of the BSE (1864-1900)"As regards freedom of action, our institution desires nothing more than to do what is in the interest of the country as a whole, and to be free from any unilateral tendency, as it has been far from seeking to cultivate its own interests at the expense of the common good. "
Baron Zsigmond Kornfeld (1852-1909)
President of the BSE (1900-1909)"Our poor mother, this dismembered Hungary is sick, seriously sick, and let us put aside all other interests, real or apparent, and keep in mind the only point of view: what is necessary, what is good for our poor, sick mother: Hungary."