Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall AG () is a

building society A building society is a financial institution owned by its members as a mutual organization, which offers banking institution, banking and related financial services, especially savings and mortgage loan, mortgage lending. They exist in the Unit ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, active abroad with subsidiaries in

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and

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. It has more than 10 million customers. Shareholders are the cooperative central bank

DZ Bank DZ Bank AG () is the second largest bank in Germany by asset size and the central institution for around 700 cooperative banks and their around 7,200 branch offices. Within that Bundesverband der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken, w ...

(96.8 percent) in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

am Main and around 600 cooperative banks. The building society has its headquarters in the city of Schwäbisch Hall in

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

. It is part of the

German Cooperative Financial Group The German Cooperative Financial Group (, sometimes referred to in English as "Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken Cooperative Financial Network") is a major cooperative banking network in Germany that includes local banks named Volksbanken ("people's ...

which has around 11,000 branches and approximately 3,400 employees.

History

Today's Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall AG was founded in 1931 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

as a German building society AG, construction savings and debt relief fund by members of the local Chamber of Crafts. After the transfer of the business office to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 1936, the German Central Cooperative Fund and most of the Central Commercial Funds participated in the company, which was meanwhile called ''Gesellschaft für zweitstelligen Grundkredit'', ''Deutscher Bausparer Aktiengesellschaft''. In 1941 the ''Volksbanks'' followed, since then it was called ''Bausparkasse der deutschen Volksbanken''. The company headquarter was bombed out in 1943, 1944 the operation together with the rescued business documents was moved to Schwäbisch Hall. The decision to retain this city as a corporate seat was made in 1947. At that time the creation of new housing was important, which was promoted from 1952 with the housing subsidy by the state. Since the conversion into the common mortgage lending institute of the ''Volksbanks'' and the ''Raiffeisenverband'' in 1956, the enterprise bears the name Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall AG. 1970 the last name changes to Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall AG, ''Bausparkasse der Volksbanken und Raiffeisebanken'' took place. As a result of the fall of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

, the company was able to extended its business to the new federal states in 1990. The legal change in the year 1991 caused that for the first-time own holding companies could be established abroad. Branches in

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and

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and subsidiaries in

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

, the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

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and the

were founded. Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall has been designated as a Significant Institution since the entry into force of

European Banking Supervision European Banking Supervision, also known as the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), is the policy framework for the prudential supervision of banks in the euro area. It is centered on the European Central Bank (ECB), whose supervisory arm is re ...

in late 2014, and as a consequence is directly supervised by the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#International ...

Core business areas of the building society Schwäbisch Hall

* Mortgage lending * Construction Financing * Cross selling * Foreign countries

Subsidiary companies

* Schwäbisch Hall Kreditservice GmbH * Schwäbisch Hall Facility Management GmbH * Schwäbisch Hall Training GmbH

Key figures

References

External links

Webpräsenz der Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall AG
* {{Authority control Banks of Germany Cooperative banks of Germany Corporate finance 1931 establishments in Germany Banks established in 1931