top of page

Maffei & Co. - a name steeped in tradition

In 1774, Peter Paul Maffei came from Verona to Munich; in 1802, he founded the Maffei & Co. banking house, which was run by the family for more than 100 years.

Peter Paul's son, Joseph Anton Ritter und Edler von Maffei (1790-1870), proved to be a visionary businessman: he not only expanded his own banking business, but also co-founded the Bayerische Hypotheken- und Wechselbank (later HypoVereinsbank) in 1835. In 1836, he invested in what was then a new innovation and founded the J.A. Maffei locomotive factory, from which one of the major German industrial groups emerged: KraussMaffei GmbH, today a leading global manufacturer of plastics machinery. In addition, he was, among other things, the initiator and chairman of the Munich-Augsburg Railway Company.
Furthermore, two Munich institutions are associated with his name: Maffei built the luxury hotel Bayerischer Hof - and he ran the Augustiner brewery.
Joseph_Anton_von_Maffei_00.jpg

Joseph Anton Maffei

Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengel
Lokomotivfabrik_maffei_1864.jpg
Joseph Anton's nephew and successor, Hugo Alois von Maffei (1836-1921), further expanded the activities: in 1880, for example, he was one of the founding members of the Bayerische Rückversicherungsgesellschaft (today: Swiss Re Germany AG).
 
From 1890 he became deputy chairman of the supervisory board of Siemens-Schuckert-Werke AG and, until his death in 1921, chairman of the supervisory board of Bayerische Hypotheken- und Wechsel-Bank AG. The latter took over the entire capital of Maffei-Bank in 1990, thus closing the circle.

Workforce of the Maffei locomotive factory with the 500th locomotive (1864)

In the 19th and early 20th century, the Maffei family was one of the leading and courageous pioneers in founding and developing innovative companies.
​
When in 2019 the Munich entrepreneurial families  Buchner and Claudy were thinking about the name of a joint holding company for the development of promising companies, they realized that the traditional name "Maffei" had no longer been used in the banking sector since 2011, when the bank "Delbrück Bethmann Maffei" merged in the meantime "Bethmann Bank AG".
​
Since the Approaches of today's Maffei & Co. differ little from those of private banks at the end of the 19th century (long-term development of technologically innovative companies, consolidation of markets, long-term support of companies), the entrepreneurial families decided, in homage to great entrepreneurs, to revive the name and continue the pioneering spirit. 
bottom of page