Christian IV was an enterprising king, and was very interested in the 17th century’s new economic ideas about growth and wealth through international trade.

For many centuries merchants had had a tarnished reputation, but for Christian IV the trade which merchants undertook was precisely the source of progress and growth that would allow Denmark to raise itself up from being a backward, peripheral region of Europe, to being one of Europe’s leading states.

Copenhagen therefore needed to have a stock exchange, where buyers and sellers could meet for mutual profit and gain.

The plan for Børsen is presented to Christian IV in the audience chamber at Rosenborg Castle. The drawing was made by Wilhelm Marstrand in 1860.

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Børsen Was Ready 400 Years Ago

Børsen was built with water on both sides, and was from 1624 ready to receive ships and goods from all around the world.

In the beginning Børsen was furnished with 20 storerooms along the façades. Each storeroom had its own gate, so merchants could unload their goods directly from the ships into Børsen. The first floor was one big stock exchange with stalls lining two passages, where the traders sold goods such as books, maps, furniture, fine attire and exotic spices. Cheese, fish and fruit were also sold. A few decades later, coffee, tea and new technology also came to Børsen.

Over time, the character of trade at Børsen changed. Børsen became a financial centre offering banking, insurance and securities. Slowly the traders’ hall was filled with offices and businesses.

Triangular Trade, Shipping and Denmark’s First Bank
Among the first offices was Denmark’s first post office, which was created at the same time as Christian IV established the postal service in 1624. In 1671, the Danish West India-Guinea Company was founded and had offices in Børsen for a few years. The company engaged in sailing goods and enslaved Africans between Copenhagen, Africa and the Caribbean, the so-called “Triangular Trade”. The ships left Copenhagen loaded with firearms, gunpowder and bullets, aquavit and textiles, with which to pay the African chiefs who sold enslaved people. From Africa the ships sailed to the Caribbean and the Danish West Indies. On the homeward journey, the ships brought with them, among other things, sugar and rum.

The first Danish credit and denominations bank, Kurantbanken, was established in 1736 and had offices at Børsen. Kurantbanken was the predecessor of the National Bank of Denmark. The first Danish banknotes were printed at Børsen. The notes could be cashed for silver. The new notes made it easier for merchants to buy and sell large consignments of goods, since they no longer needed to carry with them the heavy silver, which was expensive and difficult to transport and exchange. Kurantbanken therefore served two important purposes: it was the issuer of banknotes, and it lent money. The bank was also given the power to accept and convert bills of exchange, which at the time were the most commonly used method of issuing a loan.

The first Danish banknotes were issued by Kurantbanken, which was housed in Børsen.

Grosserer-Societetet, CF Tietgen, and Large Companies
In 1742 Grosserer-Societetet, the Society of Wholesale Merchants, was founded at Børsen. The organisation was an association of the major merchants in Copenhagen, which advocated for the members’ interests with the authorities, and later became Dansk Erhverv, the Danish Chamber of Commerce.

In the course of the first half of the 19th century, more and more companies, large-scale merchants and financial actors occupied Børsen, and slowly but surely the small-scale traders and their stalls disappeared from the building.

The Kingdom of Denmark was short of money, and in 1857 King Frederick VII sold Børsen to Grosserer-Societetet for 70,000 rigsdaler, or rix-dollars. A condition of the sale was that the new owners had to preserve the building’s exterior, and that no changes could be undertaken without the King’s permission.

Grosserer-Societetet began a number of alterations inside Børsen, so that the rooms could be used as offices, for meetings, and the trade in securities and bills of exchange.

CF Tietgen was 19th century Denmark’s most enterprising businessman and a serial entrepreneur. Many of his companies are still of great importance for Danish society. As the director of Privatbanken, Tietgen supported a number of new companies such as Store Nordisk Telegrafselskab (the Great Nordic Telegraph Company), telephone companies, the Tuborg brewery, tram lines, sugar factories and steamboat companies.

1974 New Times
The trade in securities moved out of Børsen to Københavns Fondsbørs, Copenhagen Stock Exchange, on Nicolaj Square. Børsen remained the headquarters of Grosserer-Societetet, the leading organisation for trade and commerce, and a large number of trade associations. The main tasks were advising the member companies and representing commercial interests with the government, the Danish Parliament and the EU.

2007 Dansk Erhverv is Founded
Dansk Erhverv was founded in 2007 through the fusion of several commercial and employers’ associations within trade and service industries. This strengthened the advisory role and political influence. For 400 years Børsen has been the centre of commercial interests and a meeting place for enterprising entrepreneurs.