The main goal of this work is to reveal and study the economic and action strategy of the one who would become the first leader of the Credit Institute “Albina” from Sibiu: Visarion Roman. As a member of the political and economic elite of Transylvania in the second half of the XIXth century, profoundly rooted in the Marxist ideology, Roman manages to elaborate an economic ideology which combines pragmatism with idealism, empirical observation with theoretical reading, and personal projects with political, social and economic implications for Transylvania.

By taking both a biographical approach and an ideological one, we will reveal Visarion Roman’s whole economic activity, starting with his first economic attempts (as a trader or employee in many insurance companies, either local or international) up to the creation of the first Credit Institute with entirely Romanian capital in Transylvania. Taking into consideration the historical context in which he carried out his activity, we will also emphasize our subject’s strong personality: the perseverance with which he attains his goals, his ambition but also the will with which he succeeds in attracting on his side a good part of the Romanian elite from Transylvania, his personal likes and dislikes.