THE SUPER-RICH SCHRODER banking family has put paid to the Chinese saying that wealth cannot survive three generations.
Today, five generations and 200 years after establishing the family business in London, the Schroder family, headed by Bruno Lionel Schroder, finds itself ranked at 293 in Forbes magazine's rich list, with a net worth of US$1.9 billion.
Schroders, with more than GBP100 billion (HK$1.42 trillion) under management, can attribute its creation to a famous moment in history - Napoleon's march towards the Hanseatic trading city of Hamburg - which prompted Christian Matthias Schroder, mayor of Hamburg, to send his two sons to London to start J.F. Schroder Co in 1804.
The company has made many landmark deals since then, including issuing GBP3 million in bonds for the Confederate States of America during the American civil war in 1863, and helping the Japanese government raise its first foreign loan - GBP1 million on the London market in 1870.
Over the years, the company has operated as a lender, bond issuer, investment banker and fund manager. The company went public in 1959 on the London Stock Exchange, with the family retaining a 48 per cent controlling share.
In 2000, Schroders sold its investment banking arm to Salomon Smith Barney to concentrate on asset management.
Eschewing the dissolute habits of inherited wealth, Schroder family members pride themselves on their discipline and hard work.