Maria Eugénia Mat
From Finance to Management:
Rui Ennes Ulrich (1883-1966)
J. C. Rodrigues da Costa and Maria Eugénia
Mata
This paper belongs to a three-year research project on The Cost
of Capital in Portugal, funded by
Finance, a complex science, made up of unsatisfactory
explanations to interpret the mystery and volatility of
financial markets
Investment strategies to manage diversified portfolios, are
intimidating issues for most people even today
The sophisticated financial culture of Ulrich’s time:
accumulated expertise in domestic production and
trade, in international commercial links, insurance
contracts, currency transactions, share trading, bond
issuance, and time operations
Local, regional, and national Stock Exchanges were part
of a world network of financial relationships, in which
London and New York were leading the markets.
“Regional exchanges” permitted improvement in the liquidity and
visibility offered to share and bond issues, and reduction on
transaction fees (Youssef Cassis, Capitals of K)
Family financial culture and erudition : Ulrich bankers and highfinance businessmen of German origin that moved from
Hamburg to Lisbon after the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, when
the reconstruction of the Portuguese capital, spearheaded by the
Prime-Minister, Pombal, offered good opportunities for
investment and business. The family spread their interests to
Porto, Coimbra, and to the then Brazilian capital city, Rio de
Janeiro.
A book of wide practical and educational interest on this special
market and inancial information costs: telegraph and telephone;
daily bulletin and newspapers………..
Ulrich’s textbook is not well
known (internationally, as in
Portugal)
A vast financial elite operated businesses, commanding
the urban centers and their role in the large networking
system of information, expectations, investment, and
transactions:
Dealers, accountants, brokers, bankers, and finance
experts in general, formed a technical staff that operated
according to behavioral rules derived from codes of
honor intended to inspire confidence, transparency, and
trust
Ruy Ennes Ulrich, who wrote a textbook in Portuguese, On Stock
Exchanges and their Operations (Da Bolsa e Suas Operações): a
PhD dissertation topic at the University of Coimbra, in 1906 on
Stock Exchanges and Finance (in the Law School). Full-Professor
Transactions (on commodities or securities) as a the
top expression of alternative uses for K (transfers
among shareholders’ hands in the vast world of
business)
Mentions a number of important books then available in France (36), Italy (11),
Spain, Germany, and the UK: refined legal erudition
The pioneering work of Louis Bachelier (1870-1946) The Theory of
Speculation in stock markets, in 1900, a seminal introduction of the
concept of stochastic processes to mathematically describe stock
price evolution: The founding father of financial mathematics
opening the way to the Brownian motion model to evaluate stock
options.
However, Ulrich’s book ignores this mathematical contribution (far from
being a success in the French academy (PhD without distinction), a teaching position only in 1909, a
permanent position only in 1927 (only in Besançon)
Ulrich’s concept of equilibrium stems from some fields of Physics.
Public debt and Banking training: A PROFESSIONAL CAREER AS A MANAGER
A hard-working and prolific author +
Expertise +Good relationships with
Governments
1911-14, Junta de Crédito Público
1914-28 Banco de Portugal
1920-1933 Companhia de Moçambique
1922-33 CP
1933-35 Ambassador to the UK
1935-1950 - School of Law of the University of Lisbon. 1937-50, Dean, Director of Centro de Estudos Económicos
1936-42 Procurador à Câmara Corporativa
1936- President of the Board of Companhia Nacional de Navegação
1940 member of the Board Junta Nacional da Marinha Mercante
member of the Board of the international Companhias Reunidas de Gás e Electricidade
member of the Board of Companhia de Caminho de Ferro de Benguela
member of the Board of the insurance company Companhia de Seguros Ultramarina.
1950-53Ambassador to the UK
1950-52, member of the Conselho dos Suplentes do Pacto do Atlântico Norte
(1958) president of the General Assembly of Banco de Portugal
President of Sociedade de Geografia
Vice-President of Academia das Ciências
Grã-cruz da Ordem de Cristo, Grã-cruz da Ordem de Sant’Iago da Espada, and from Romania Grã-cruz da Ordem da Coroa
Rui Ennes Ulrich (1883-1966)
Ulrichs’ literary salon, an intellectual atmosphere: Elegance,
erudition, and arts, coupled with the inter-wars period
extravagance and glamor, were all marks of exoticism
His wife Genoveva (Veva Mayer), published several books, often
contributing her writings to the capital-city newspapers. She also
participated in radio debates and promoted some theater productions,
while sponsoring crafts and decorative arts for adorning their home,
according to the prevailing art-nouveau style of the inter-wars period
Social history has not yet considered in sound studies on the
Portuguese elites: Portugal was not out of the mainstream
knowledge on financial markets: corporate governance, financial
management, organizational behavior, and scientific control