The Creditanstalt (sometimes Credit-Anstalt, abbreviated as CA), full original name k. k. priv. Österreichische Credit-Anstalt für Handel und Gewerbe (), was a major Austrian bank, founded in 1855 in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
.
From its founding until 1931, the Creditanstalt was led by members of the
Rothschild family
The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of Fr ...
, who were among its significant shareholders. Its historically consequential failure in 1931 led to a merger engineered by the Austrian government in 1934, in which it combined with the
Wiener Bankverein and the sound parts of the
Niederösterreichische Escompte-Gesellschaft
The Niederösterreichische Escompte-Gesellschaft or Niederösterreichischen Escomptegesellschaft () was a significant Austrian bank, created in Vienna in 1853. In 1934, the sounder parts of its business were merged with Creditanstalt and Wien ...
to form Österreichische Creditanstalt - Wiener Bankverein, later abbreviated to Creditanstalt-Bankverein. The latter came under the control of
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York St ...
following the
Anschluss
The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938.
The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germa ...
in 1938, was nationalized in 1945, and was eventually acquired in 1997 by
Bank Austria
UniCredit Bank Austria AG, branded and widely referred to as Bank Austria, is an Austrian bank, 96.35% owned by Milan-based UniCredit. It was formed in 1991 by merger of Vienna's Länderbank and Zentralsparkasse, acquired Creditanstalt-Bankverei ...
to form Bank Austria-Creditanstalt, since 2005 a subsidiary of
UniCredit
UniCredit S.p.A. is an international banking group headquartered in Milan. It is Italy's only systemically important bank (according to the list provided by the Financial Stability Board in 2022) and the world's 34th largest by assets. It was fo ...
. UniCredit phased out the Creditanstalt brand in 2008.
Foundation and development until 1931
The Creditanstalt was founded in 1855 by
Salomon Mayer von Rothschild
Salomon Mayer von Rothschild (9 September 1774 – 28 July 1855) was a German-born banker in the Austrian Empire and the founder of the Austrian branch of the prominent Mayer Amschel Rothschild family.
Family
He was born at Frankfurt am Mai ...
and his son
Anselm Salomon von Rothschild
Anselm Salomon von Rothschild, baron (29 January 1803 – 27 July 1874) was an Austrian banker, founder of the Creditanstalt, and a member of the Vienna branch of the Rothschild family.
Family
He was born in the Imperial City of Frankfurt, ...
, with support from Austrian finance minister
Karl Ludwig von Bruck
Karl Ludwig von Bruck (Elberfeld, 8 October 1798 – Vienna, 23 April 1860) was an Austrian statesman.
Biography
In 1821 Bruck went to Trieste in order to take part in the War for Greek Independence, and, remaining there several years, founded th ...
and the financial involvement of notable figures of the Austrian and Bohemian high nobility.
[ It was inspired by the ]Pereire brothers
Émile Pereire (3 December 1800, Bordeaux - 5 January 1875, Paris) and his brother Isaac Pereire (25 November 1806, Bordeaux – 12 July 1880, Gretz-Armainvilliers) were major figures in the development of France's finance and infrastructure duri ...
' Paris-based Crédit Mobilier
The Crédit Mobilier (full name Société Générale du Crédit Mobilier, "general company for movable ollateral-backedcredit") was a French banking company created by the Pereire brothers, and one of the world’s most significant and influenti ...
(est. 1852), and represented a defensive move against the Pereires' aggressive expansion into Europe in competition with the long-established Rothschilds. The application presented to the Austrian imperial ministry guaranteed the initial capital subscription, with 40 percent taken by the Rothschild houses in Vienna, Frankfurt and Paris, 50 percent by prominent aristocrats (Max Egon zu Fürstenberg, , , Otto Ferdinand von Chotek, ), and 10 percent by the private Prague banking house of .
The Creditanstalt immediately became the leading bank in the Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...
.[ It opened its first branch in ]Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
in 1856. By 1867, it had established further branches in Pest, Brno
Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...
, Brașov
Brașov (, , ; german: Kronstadt; hu, Brassó; la, Corona; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the administrative centre of Brașov County.
According to the latest Romanian census (2011), Brașov has a pop ...
, Lviv
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in Western Ukraine, western Ukraine, and the List of cities in Ukraine, seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is o ...
, and Trieste
Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into pr ...
, and on that year it sponsored a Hungarian affiliate, the General Hungarian Credit Bank ( hu, Magyar Altalános Hitelbank, german: Ungarische Allgemeine Creditbank), into which it subsequently merged its prior Pest branch. In 1869 it co-founded the Austro-Ägyptische Bank in Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...
, together with the Anglo-Austrian Bank
The Anglo-Österreichische Bank (), in shorthand Anglobank, was a bank founded in Vienna in 1863 with an extensive branch network in the Habsburg Monarchy and later in its successor states, primarily Austria and Czechoslovakia.
Following the ...
.[ ]Albert Salomon Anselm von Rothschild
Albert Salomon Anselm Freiherr von Rothschild (29 October 1844 – 11 February 1911) was a banker in Austria-Hungary and a member of the Rothschild banking family of Austria. Businesses that he owned included Creditanstalt and the North ...
, Anselm Salomon's son, took control of the Creditanstalt in 1872, and was in turn succeeded in 1911 by his son Louis Nathaniel de Rothschild
Louis Nathaniel, Baron de Rothschild (german: Ludwig Nathaniel, Freiherr von Rothschild) was an Austrian baron from the famous Rothschild family. He was born in Vienna on 5 March 1882 and died of heart failure while swimming in Montego Bay, Jam ...
.
The Creditanstalt's circumstances were dramatically affected by Austria-Hungary's defeat in the First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, its subsequent dissolution
Dissolution may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Books
* ''Dissolution'' (''Forgotten Realms'' novel), a 2002 fantasy novel by Richard Lee Byers
* ''Dissolution'' (Sansom novel), a 2003 historical novel by C. J. Sansom Music
* Dissolution, in mu ...
, and the formation of the First Austrian Republic
The First Austrian Republic (german: Erste Österreichische Republik), officially the Republic of Austria, was created after the signing of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye on 10 September 1919—the settlement after the end of World War I w ...
. In 1919, it had to sell its operations in what had become Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
to the Prague-based Böhmische Escompte-Bank. It also sold its branches in the newly formed Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
to and in an all-shares transaction, following which it held a third of each of the two banks' capital. Deprived of its international outlook, the Creditanstalt focused on the Austrian market. In 1926, it purchased the Viennese operations of Anglo-Austrian Bank
The Anglo-Österreichische Bank (), in shorthand Anglobank, was a bank founded in Vienna in 1863 with an extensive branch network in the Habsburg Monarchy and later in its successor states, primarily Austria and Czechoslovakia.
Following the ...
which had become a British bank following recapitalisation by the Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government o ...
; since that transaction was structured as an exchange of shares, the Bank of England, through its British subsidiary the Anglo-International Bank, became a significant shareholder of Creditanstalt. In 1929, just at the time of Wall Street Crash and under pressure from the Austrian government led by Johann Schober
Johannes "Johann" Schober (born 14 November 1874 in Perg; died 19 August 1932 in Baden bei Wien) was an Austrian jurist, law enforcement official, and politician. Schober was appointed Vienna Chief of Police in 1918 and became the founding preside ...
, Creditanstalt purchased its distressed peer the Allgemeine Bodencreditanstalt
The Allgemeine Bodencreditanstalt or Boden-Credit-Anstalt (, french: Crédit foncier autrichien, also known as Bodencredit or simply "Boden") was an Austrian bank based in Vienna, created in 1863 and absorbed in 1929 by its main competitor the Cr ...
, which itself was dragged down by its acquisition of Austria's Unionbank two years earlier.
Downfall and merger
Burdened by the troubled legacy of its recent acquisitions, the Creditanstalt declared on that it was unable to publish its financial statements for 1930, immediately triggering panic. At that time, it represented 27 percent of the Austrian banking sector's total assets, a sum equivalent to 16 percent of the country's GDP, so that there was no option to have it absorbed by another larger banks as had been done with Unionbank in 1927 and Bodencreditanstalt in 1929. This was one of the first major bank collapses that initiated the Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. Chancellor Otto Ender
Otto Ender (24 December 1875 – 25 June 1960) was an Austrian political figure. He served as the chancellor of Austria between 1930 and 1931.
Early life and education
Ender, the first son of Herman and Victoria Ender, was born in Altach, Vorarl ...
organized a rescue that entailed cost-sharing by the Austrian government, the Oesterreichische Nationalbank
The Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) is the central bank of Austria and, as such, an integral part of both the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and the Eurozone. It started operations on , replacing the Austro-Hungarian Bank of whic ...
, and the Rothschild family
The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of Fr ...
, rejecting nationalization
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to p ...
plans advocated by the Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
For ...
. The Creditanstalt's bankruptcy and its impact in producing a major global banking crisis provided a major propaganda opportunity for Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...
and the Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
, allowing them to further blame Jews for German and international economic and social troubles.
In 1934, Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß
Engelbert Dollfuß (alternatively: ''Dolfuss'', ; 4 October 1892 – 25 July 1934) was an Austrian clerical fascist politician who served as Chancellor of Austria between 1932 and 1934. Having served as Minister for Forests and Agriculture, he ...
ordered the Creditanstalt's merger with the Wiener Bankverein and the sound parts of the Niederösterreichische Escompte-Gesellschaft
The Niederösterreichische Escompte-Gesellschaft or Niederösterreichischen Escomptegesellschaft () was a significant Austrian bank, created in Vienna in 1853. In 1934, the sounder parts of its business were merged with Creditanstalt and Wien ...
, as a consequence of which the bank became ''de facto'' state-owned. The merged entity took the name .
Anschluss and World War II
Following the Austrian Anschluss
The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938.
The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germa ...
to Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
in 1938, the bank was immediately targeted for both financial and racial reasons. By that time, around 36 percent of its capital was held directly by the Austrian government, 12 percent by the Oesterreichische Nationalbank
The Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) is the central bank of Austria and, as such, an integral part of both the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and the Eurozone. It started operations on , replacing the Austro-Hungarian Bank of whic ...
, 16 percent by the bank employees' pension fund, and 7 percent by the bank itself through its subsidiary . On it was coerced to enter a "friendship agreement" with Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York St ...
, by which the latter secured a presence in its board of directors.[ Louis de Rothschild was immediately arrested and imprisoned for the losses suffered by the Austrian state when the bank had collapsed. Deprived of his position and property, he was released upon payment of $21,000,000, believed to have been the largest bail bond in history for any individual, and migrated to the U.S. in 1939 after more than one year in custody.
Later in 1938, the bank was jointly taken over, without compensation, by German government holding , the ]Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York St ...
, and the Reichsbank
The ''Reichsbank'' (; 'Bank of the Reich, Bank of the Realm') was the central bank of the German Reich from 1876 until 1945.
History until 1933
The Reichsbank was founded on 1 January 1876, shortly after the establishment of the German Empi ...
, which held respectively 51 percent, 25 percent, and 12 percent of its capital.[ In 1939, its name was abbreviated to Creditanstalt-Bankverein. Its Lviv-based affiliate the was nationalized following the ]Soviet invasion of Poland
The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military operation by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west. Subs ...
in September 1939, and later liquidated. In April 1942, Deutsche Bank raised its ownership to 51 percent by acquiring a block of shares from VIAG. During wartime, the Creditanstalt expanded its operations into Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia,[ and in Nazi-allied Bulgaria. Even though , its former head and still board member during the war, made contact with the U.S. ]Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branc ...
, the Creditanstalt in that period settled the financial issues of several Nazi concentration camps
From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as con ...
as well as the Aryanization
Aryanization (german: Arisierung) was the Nazi term for the seizure of property from Jews and its transfer to non-Jews, and the forced expulsion of Jews from economic life in Nazi Germany, Axis-aligned states, and their occupied territories. I ...
of Jewish-owned businesses, like the re-establishment of Sascha-Film
Sascha-Film, in full Sascha-Filmindustrie AG and from 1933 Tobis-Sascha-Filmindustrie AG, was the largest Austrian film production company of the silent film and early sound film period.
History
The business was established in 1910 by Alexande ...
as Wien-Film
Wien-Film GmbH ("Vienna Film Limited") was a large Austrian film company, which in 1938 succeeded the Tobis-Sascha-Filmindustrie AG (Sascha Film Company) and lasted until 1985. Until 1945 the business was owned by the Cautio Trust Company (''Cauti ...
Limited.
Postwar development
Following Nazi defeat in World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, the Creditanstalt again had to refocus its activity on Austria, and was nationalized by Allied-occupied Austria
The Allied occupation of Austria started on 8 May 1945 with the fall of Nazi Germany and ended with the Austrian State Treaty on 27 July 1955.
After the in 1938, Austria under National Socialism, Austria had generally been recognized as part ...
by law of . By 1947 it had 23 branch offices in Vienna and 9 branches in the rest of Austria, as well as three provincial affiliates, namely the in Klagenfurt
Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...
, the Bank für Tirol und Vorarlberg
Bank für Tirol und Vorarlberg is a regional Austrian bank with headquarters in Innsbruck
Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. On the River Inn, at its junctio ...
in Innsbruck
Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. On the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass to the south, it had a p ...
, and the Bank für Oberösterreich und Salzburg in Linz
Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846.
In 2009, it was a European Capital ...
. It became mainly a commercial bank
A commercial bank is a financial institution which accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make profit.
It can also refer to a bank, or a division of a large bank, which deals with ...
and was involved in Austria's economy, holding stakes in important Austrian companies such as Wienerberger
Wienerberger AG is an Austrian brick maker which is the world’s largest producer of bricks, (Porotherm, Terca) and number one on the clay roof tile market (Koramic, Tondach) in Europe as well as concrete pavers (Semmelrock) in Central and Easter ...
, Steyr-Daimler-Puch
Steyr-Daimler-Puch () was a large manufacturing conglomerate based in Steyr, Austria, which was broken up in stages between 1987 and 2001. The component parts and operations continued to exist under separate ownership and new names.
History
...
, Lenzing AG, and Semperit
Semperit AG Holding is a manufacturer of industrial polymer and plastic products based in Vienna, Austria. From the middle 20th century, it produced bicycle tires for the Austrian road bicycle sold by Sears & Roebuck, including the classic white ...
. From 1956 onwards, the Creditanstalt was partly privatized
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
by issuing 40% in shares, though only 10% in common stock
Common stock is a form of corporate equity ownership, a type of security. The terms voting share and ordinary share are also used frequently outside of the United States. They are known as equity shares or ordinary shares in the UK and other Comm ...
. From the 1970s, it restarted an international expansion into central and eastern Europe.[
In 1981, the former Social Democratic Minister of Finance Hannes Androsch assumed the office of a general manager, after he had left the cabinet led by ]Bruno Kreisky
Bruno Kreisky (; 22 January 1911 – 29 July 1990) was an Austrian social democratic politician who served as Foreign Minister from 1959 to 1966 and as Chancellor from 1970 to 1983. Aged 72 at the end of his chancellorship, he was the oldest ...
. The bank's investments into industrial interests were reduced, while the government's ownership share fell to 51%. In the 1980s, the Creditanstalt opened branches in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
. From 1989 onwards, its international orientation towards East-Central Europe
East Central Europe is the region between Germanic, West Slavic, and Hungarian-speaking Europe and the East Slavic countries of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. Those lands are described as situated "between two": "between two worlds, between ...
was boosted by the fall of the Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its ...
. In 1997, Geoffrey Hoguet ceased to work for the investment bank, the last member of the Rothschild family
The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of Fr ...
employed in banking in Austria by then.
Merger with Bank Austria and aftermath
In 1997, the Austrian government sold its majority ownership stake in Creditanstalt to Bank Austria
UniCredit Bank Austria AG, branded and widely referred to as Bank Austria, is an Austrian bank, 96.35% owned by Milan-based UniCredit. It was formed in 1991 by merger of Vienna's Länderbank and Zentralsparkasse, acquired Creditanstalt-Bankverei ...
(BA), triggering a crisis in the ruling coalition between the Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
For ...
and the Austrian People's Party
The Austrian People's Party (german: Österreichische Volkspartei , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria.
Since December 2021, the party has been led provisionally by Karl Nehammer. It is curre ...
- since the Creditanstalt was considered to be part of the Austrian People's Party
The Austrian People's Party (german: Österreichische Volkspartei , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria.
Since December 2021, the party has been led provisionally by Karl Nehammer. It is curre ...
's sphere of influence under the country's distinctive Proporz
''Proporz'' (, from german: Proportionalität, "proportionality") is a long-standing practice in the Second Austrian Republic in which positions in government are distributed between political parties in a manner proportional to their electoral o ...
arrangement, whereas both of Bank Austria's predecessor entities, the Länderbank
The Länderbank, full original name k. k. privilegierte Österreichische Länderbank () was a major Austrian bank, created in 1880. In 1922 its head office was moved to Paris under the name Banque des Pays de l'Europe Centrale (BPEC, german: Zen ...
and the Viennese Zentralsparkasse
UniCredit Bank Austria AG, branded and widely referred to as Bank Austria, is an Austrian bank, 96.35% owned by Milan-based UniCredit. It was formed in 1991 by merger of Vienna's Länderbank and Zentralsparkasse, acquired Creditanstalt-Bankv ...
, were associated with the political left. In 2001, Bank Austria in turn was acquired by Germany's HypoVereinsbank
UniCredit Bank AG, better known under its brand name HypoVereinsbank (HVB), is the fifth-largest of the German financial institutions, ranked according to its total assets, and the fourth-largest bank in Germany according to the number of its e ...
(HVB), which merger it with Creditanstalt in 2002 to create ''Bank Austria Creditanstalt'' (BA-CA). In 2005, HVB was taken over by Italy's UniCredit
UniCredit S.p.A. is an international banking group headquartered in Milan. It is Italy's only systemically important bank (according to the list provided by the Financial Stability Board in 2022) and the world's 34th largest by assets. It was fo ...
. After 153 years, the Creditanstalt brand name was finally phased out in 2008, even though it survived in a property subsidiary named ''CA Immo''.
Leadership
* , General Director 1932-1936
* , General Director 1936-1938, Administrator 1945-1948, General Director 1948-1959
* , General Director 1959-1970
* , General Director 1970-1981
* Hannes Androsch, General Director 1981-1988
* Guido Schmidt-Chiari, General Director 1988-1997
Buildings
Vienna
In 1855, the Creditanstalt was temporarily established at Renngasse 1 on Vienna's Freyung square. In 1858, it purchased and demolished a number of houses on square in central Vienna and replaced them with a new building designed by architect Franz Fröhlich, with allegorical sculptures by Hans Gasser
Hans Gasser (18171868) was an Austrian painter and sculptor. His name is sometimes spelled Hanns, and he was baptized as Johann. He shortened his name to avoid confusion with a now-forgotten Tyrolean artist who was also named Johann Gasser.Heinr ...
representing ''Navigation'', ''Railways'', ''Commerce'', ''Industry'', ''Agriculture'', and ''Mining''. The building, numbered am Hof 6, was completed in 1860 and was kept in use by Creditanstalt until the 1934 merger. It was subsequently purchased by the , a subsidiary of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank
The Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) is the central bank of Austria and, as such, an integral part of both the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and the Eurozone. It started operations on , replacing the Austro-Hungarian Bank of whic ...
, and in 1940 by the . Am Hof 6 was damaged by allied bombing on and subsequently demolished. A new building was erected in its place in the early 1950s for electricity utility Verbundgesellschaft, designed by architect .
Between 1915 and 1921 the Creditanstalt had its head office expanded northwestward across street, on a land plot bordering the Freyung that it had purchased in 1914 from Niederösterreichische Escompte-Gesellschaft
The Niederösterreichische Escompte-Gesellschaft or Niederösterreichischen Escomptegesellschaft () was a significant Austrian bank, created in Vienna in 1853. In 1934, the sounder parts of its business were merged with Creditanstalt and Wien ...
, which itself was moving from there to its new headquarters on 2. The opulent neoclassical extension, linked to the former seat by a bridge over Tiefer Graben, became the bank's main headquarters. It was designed by architects and ; the same team had previously created the new head offices of Creditanstalt's competitors the Wiener Bankverein (on ) and the Niederösterreichische Escompte-Gesellschaft
The Niederösterreichische Escompte-Gesellschaft or Niederösterreichischen Escomptegesellschaft () was a significant Austrian bank, created in Vienna in 1853. In 1934, the sounder parts of its business were merged with Creditanstalt and Wien ...
itself ( 2), both nearby locations. Following the 1934 merger, the building was purchased in 1937 by , an insurance company. By 1980 it was the property of the Länderbank
The Länderbank, full original name k. k. privilegierte Österreichische Länderbank () was a major Austrian bank, created in 1880. In 1922 its head office was moved to Paris under the name Banque des Pays de l'Europe Centrale (BPEC, german: Zen ...
which used it for its , successively renamed (1991-2002), (2002-2008), and since 2008 again . In 2010, it was acquired by financier René Benko
René Benko (born 20 May 1977) is an Austrian real estate, media and retail investor and founder of the Signa Holding. The company is considered Austria's largest privately held real estate conglomerate. Benko is one of the richest Austrians. N ...
, who repurposed its northwestern wing which became the seat of the Austrian Constitutional Court
The Constitutional Court (german: Verfassungsgerichtshof or ) in Austria is the tribunal responsible for judicial review.
It verifies the constitutionality of statutes, the legality of ordinances and other secondary legislation, and the constit ...
in 2012, whereas the art forum has remained on the southeastern side.
In 1934, the Creditanstalt-Bankverein established its head office in the former seat of Wiener Bankverein at Schottentor. It remained there through the multiple mergers and restructurings until the late 2000s.
File:Renngasse 1 Vienna b.JPG, The Creditanstalt's first head office on Renngasse 1
Creditanstalt (Am Hof 6, Vienna), ca. 1900 (1).jpg, Head office building erected 1860, am Hof 6, photographed ca. 1900
File:Wien-Innere Stadt - Verfassungsgerichtshof und Kunstforum.jpg, The 1910s extension in 2014, with the Austrian Constitutional Court on the left and Bank Austria Art Forum on the right
File:Creditanstalt (Freyung 8), Vienna, 2019.jpg, Monogram of the Creditanstalt ("CAfHuG" for ) on the 1910s extension
File:Creditanstalt Vienna Oct. 2006 004.jpg, Former Wiener Bankverein seat at Schottentor, head office of Creditanstalt-Bankverein from 1934
Other locations
In 1894-1896, the Creditanstalt erected a new building for its branch in Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
, designed by architect with sculptures by Antonín Popp. In 1907-1909 the Creditanstalt erected a monumental branch building in Trieste
Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into pr ...
, on what later became .
File:Maria-Theresien-Straße 36 (IMG 1861).jpg, Branch building in Innsbruck
Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. On the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass to the south, it had a p ...
, Maria-Theresien-Straße 36, in 2019[
File:Ehem. Steiermärkische-Escompte-Bank (20600) stitch IMG 2801 - IMG 2804.jpg, Branch building in ]Graz
Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popula ...
, Herrengasse 15, in 2014[
File:Stolperstein Salzburg, Wohnhaus Rainerstraße 2.jpg, Branch building in ]Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...
, Rainerstrasse 2, in 2016[
File:Villach Innenstadt Hauptplatz 18 Paracelsushof O-Ansicht 23042021 0841.jpg, Branch building in ]Villach
Villach (; sl, Beljak; it, Villaco; fur, Vilac) is the seventh-largest city in Austria and the second-largest in the federal state of Carinthia. It is an important traffic junction for southern Austria and the whole Alpe-Adria region. , the p ...
, Hauptplatz 18, in 2021
File:Na příkopě 850 (Prague).jpg, Former branch office in Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
, Na příkopě 8
See also
* Wiener Bankverein
* Länderbank
The Länderbank, full original name k. k. privilegierte Österreichische Länderbank () was a major Austrian bank, created in 1880. In 1922 its head office was moved to Paris under the name Banque des Pays de l'Europe Centrale (BPEC, german: Zen ...
* Anglo-Austrian Bank
The Anglo-Österreichische Bank (), in shorthand Anglobank, was a bank founded in Vienna in 1863 with an extensive branch network in the Habsburg Monarchy and later in its successor states, primarily Austria and Czechoslovakia.
Following the ...
* Erste Group
Erste Group Bank AG (Erste Group) is an Austrian financial service provider in Central and Eastern Europe serving 15.7 million clients in over 2,700 branches in seven countries.
History
Erste Group was founded in October 1819 as ''Erste österr ...
* List of banks in Austria
The following is a list of banks in Austria (as of 14 November 2019), as well as those that are defunct:
Banks
*Addiko Bank
* Allianz Investmentbank
* AlpenBank
* American Express
*Anglo Irish Bank
* Austrian AAB Bank AG
* Autobank AG
*Banco ...
Notes
Further reading
* März, Eduard, Austrian Banking and Financial Policy: Credit-Anstalt at a Turning Point, 1913–1923 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 1984)
* Schorske, Carl E., '' Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture'' (London: Vintage, 1980)
* Schubert, Aurel, ''The Credit-Anstalt Crisis of 1931'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992)
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
1855 establishments in the Austrian Empire
2002 disestablishments in Austria
Banks established in 1855
Companies based in Vienna
Defunct banks of Austria
Former UniCredit subsidiaries