1910: The World Gets Smaller...

Ernst Mund, son of the founder Adoph Mund, had become a partner in the Antwerp firm in 1899. Ernst’s brother, also named Adolph, is called upon to travel abroad. He has been an underwriter in St. Petersburg since 1908 and, subsequently, in Copenhagen and Berlin.

The Fester brothers are also busy with expansion: Alongside branches in St. Petersburg, and two firms in London and Liverpool, a New York branch is opened and, shortly thereafter, one in Chicago.  

Mund & Fester had thus created a broad network of partner branches in all the important merchant shipping hubs

View of Manhattan, New York 1933

... So Does the Old Office.

The premises in the Hermannstrasse also soon prove to be too small and Jules Fester finds new office space in the “Laisz-Hof”(Laisz-Court) at Trostbrücke Number 1. There he rents almost the entire second floor, an additional office on the fourth floor, and yet another office in the “Globushof” (Globe Court) across the road at Trostbrücke Number 2. None too big for his staff which now numbers 120.

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