Mayer Amschel Bauer changed his name from Bauer to Rothschild and became the founding father of International Finance

In 1743 a goldsmith named Amschel Moses Bauer opened a coin shop in Frankfurt, Germany. He hung above his door a sign depicting a Roman eagle on a red shield. The shop became known as the Red Shield firm. The German word for 'red shield' is Rothschild.

Amschel Bauer had a son, Mayer Amschel Bauer. At a very early age Mayer showed that he possessed immense intellectual ability, and his father spent much of his time teaching him everything he could about the money lending business and in the basic dynamics of finance.

Meyer Amschel Bauer changed his name from Bauer to Rothschild (”Red Shield”) and added five golden arrows held in the eagle’s talons, signifying his five sons who operated the five banking houses of the international House of Rothschild: Frankfurt, London, Paris, Vienna, and Naples.

A few years after his father's death in 1755, Mayer went to work in Hannover as a clerk, in a bank, owned by the Oppenheimers. Meyer's superior ability was quickly recognized and his advancement within the firm was swift. He was awarded a junior partnership. While in the employ of the Oppenheimers, he was introduced to General von Estorff. Von Estorff would later provide the yet-to-be formed House of Rothschild an entré into to the palace of Prince William.

Much of the early Rothschild fortune and rise to prominence was built on business dealings with Prince William who had inherited what was purported to be among the largest fortunes in Europe and eventually came to depend substantially on Mayer for managing this fortune, particularly during and after the invasion and conquest of the area by Napoleon.

Through his experience with the Oppenheimers, Meyer Rothschild learned that loaning money to governments and kings was much more profitable than loaning to private individuals. Not only were the loans bigger, but they were secured by the nation's taxes

In 2005, he was ranked 7th on the Forbes magazine list of the The Twenty Most Influential Businessmen Of All Time. The business magazine referred to him as a "founding father of international finance."