of the bank consisted of financial services for the local community: deposits, loans, transfers. The bank was the main conduit for the transactions of the Pekidim and Amarkalim of the Holy Land organisation (literally: "clerks and agents" in Hebrew), a Dutch-Jewish society based in Amsterdam and dedicated to the distribution of charity funds collected in Europe for the Old Yishuv (Halukkah). The bank's clientele expanded along with its services, to include consulates, churches, other religious institutions and charities. It acted as agent for the Ottoman administration as well as Austrian, German and Russian governments. It also had the status of correspondent with the Rothschilds of Paris, London and Vienna (the Österreichische Credit-Anstalt), the Samuel Montagu & Co. bankers of London and Banque Russe pour le Commerce Étranger in Paris. When Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary visited Jerusalem in November 1869 (en route to the opening of the Suez Canal), the bank handled the transfer of funds required to cover the costs of the trip. Jacob Valero was subsequently awarded the Order of the Iron Crown. In his ‘Jerusalem Memory Book’ (1913), Nahum Dov Freiman assessed the resources of the Valero Bank at 3,000,000 francs (£120,000). The bank made a significant contribution to the economic development of the city and played a significant wider role in the transfer of funds from Europe to a wide range of Jewish organizations. The strategy of the Czar of Russia to expand the influence of the Russian Empire led to a steady increase in the number of Russian pilgrims to Jerusalem in the second half of the 19th century. The Czar, who saw himself as defender of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, sought a foothold in the city. In October 1860, the Russian government acquired a large plot and work started on what was then the largest construction project in Jerusalem. The walled Russian Compound, as it is known until this day, comprised a church, hospital, the residence of the Russian consul and hostels for pilgrims. The bank helped realize the project through the transfer of funds and other banking services and in recognition of this, in 1888 the Czar honoured Haim Aharon Valero with the Order of St. Anna. Affiliation with the Rothschild family The Valero bank provided a range of services to the Rothschilds, a very prominent family of European bankers based in Vienna, Paris and London. Haim Aharon developed close business contacts with