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The ''Sparkassengruppe Österreich'' () brings together all
savings bank A savings bank is a financial institution that is not run on a profit-maximizing basis, and whose original or primary purpose is collecting deposits on savings accounts that are invested on a low-risk basis and receive interest. Savings banks ha ...
s () in
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
. Tracing its origins to 1819, it serves around 4 million customers in 797 branches with more than 15,500 employees, with a customer share in Austria around 31.2% as of December 2022. The group has a complex decentralized structure but relies critically on
Erste Group Bank AG Erste Group Bank AG (shortened version Erste Group) is an Austrian financial service provider. It is one of the largest financial service providers in Central and Eastern Europe serving more than 16 million clients in over 2,000 branches in seven ...
, which owns the main local savings bank in
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, operates central functions, owns and manages subsidiaries outside of Austria, and consolidates group accounts. The Österreichischer Sparkassenverband acts as the group's national representative body. In 2020 the group had total assets of €277 billion, ahead of
Raiffeisen Bank International Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) is a key entity of the decentralized Raiffeisen Banking Group in Austria, acting both as the latter's domestic central financial entity and as the holding company for all the group's operations outside of Aus ...
(€166 billion), UniCredit Bank Austria (€119 billion), and BAWAG Group (€53 billion), making it one of the largest Austrian banking groups. 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, the entire Sparkassengruppe Österreich has been 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 ...
, with Erste Group Bank AG as a consolidating entity. The latter feature stands in contrast to
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 ...
, where the are supervised individually as separate entities even though they are joined in an institutional protection scheme. Another difference is that the German
Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe The ''Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe'' ("Savings Banks Financial Group") is a network of public banks that together form the largest financial services group in Germany and Europe by assets. Its name refers to local government-controlled savings banks ...
has no significant foreign operations, whereas Erste Group Bank AG has significant subsidiaries in
Central and Eastern Europe Central and Eastern Europe is a geopolitical term encompassing the countries in Baltic region, Northeast Europe (primarily the Baltic states, Baltics), Central Europe (primarily the Visegrád Group), Eastern Europe, and Southeast Europe (primaril ...
.


History

The first Austrian savings bank, as its name indicates, was the ''Erste österreichische Spar-Casse'', which opened on in
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
. Other savings banks were founded in subsequent years on an associative basis () by individuals such as aristocrats, clergy, senior civil servants, or doctors and pharmacists. As a counterweight to private banks, the savings banks were intended as purpose-driven institutions against the impoverishment of the population and as instruments for the accumulation of wealth by the working classes. The Savings Bank Regulation () of 1844 established a framework of government oversight of the savings banks, with a permissive system for and for the newly defined category of municipal savings banks (), the first one of which was born in 1853. A boom in new savings banks began in 1866, with the number increasing from 26 to 210 in 1910. The model statute of 1872 abolished the previous restriction of savings banks services to "less well-off classes" and the degressive interest rate (the interest rate fell with the level of deposits); they now became "financial institutions of a humanitarian nature" () that could do business with all classes of the population. Savings banks were created in other parts of the
Habsburg Monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...
, such as the Laibacher Sparkasse in today's
Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...
(est. 1820), Cassa di Risparmio di Venezia (est. 1822),
Cassa di Risparmio di Milano Cassa di Risparmio delle Provincie Lombarde, known in shorthand as Cariplo SpA, was an Italian bank founded in 1823. On 2 January 1998, it merged with Banco Ambrosiano Veneto to form Banca Intesa. Cariplo SpA became a short-lived sub-holding comp ...
(est. 1823), Böhmische Sparkasse (est. 1823),
First National Savings Bank of Pest The First National Savings Bank of Pest (PHET) (), sometimes translated as ''First Domestic Savings Bank'' or referred to simply as ''First Savings Bank'', was a major Hungarian bank that was established in 1839–1840 and was eventually national ...
(est. 1840), and
First Croatian Savings Bank The First Croatian Savings Bank (, ) was a significant Croatian bank headquartered in Zagreb. The bank was founded in 1846 and liquidated in 1945. It has been described as "the first modern credit institution in Zagreb" and "one of the most ...
in
Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
(est. 1846). A first central financial institution for the savings banks, initially joint with cooperative banks and with main geographical focus on
Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...
, was created in 1897 in
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
, the ''Deutsche Kreditgenossenschaft für Böhmen''. It changed its name in 1901 to , and relocated to Vienna in 1916. It was liquidated in 1926. The Austrian
hyperinflation In economics, hyperinflation is a very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real versus nominal value (economics), real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase. This causes people to minimiz ...
following
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
destroyed the value of both the assets and liabilities of the savings banks, whose aggregate deposits shrunk from 2 billion kronen (4.3 billion
schillings Schillings (originally Schilling & Lom) is a British reputation and privacy consultancy staffed by legal, reputation, privacy, risk consulting, communications and intelligence specialists. The company is an Alternative Business Structure (ABS) ...
) in 1913 to 3 ''million'' schillings in 1923. The disruption could only be overcome because the legislature allowed the savings banks to carry out new tasks, especially current account business and cashless payment transactions as well as foreign exchange and currency trading. After a brief period of prosperity after 1924, the savings banks again experienced stress around the banking crisis of 1931, but had been managed cautiously enough that, unlike most commercial banks, they withstood the dislocation following the crash of
Creditanstalt 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. From its founding until 1931, the ...
; despite massive deposit withdrawals, no single savings bank failed or even suspended payments for a single day. At the end of 1937, there were 197 savings banks in Austria; almost half of their aggregate deposits were held in the two main Vienna savings banks, Zentralsparkasse (the Viennese , with 588 million schillings in total assets) and
Erste Bank Erste Group Bank AG (shortened version Erste Group) is an Austrian financial service provider. It is one of the largest financial service providers in Central and Eastern Europe serving more than 16 million clients in over 2,000 branches in seven ...
(the original , with 416 million). Between 1938 and 1945 under
Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...
, the Austrian savings banks adopted some features of the German system including the creation of the . In 1939, the was established as a centralizing organization for the German savings banks along similar lines to the German that had been created in the previous four decades.


Since World War II

After the currency stabilization in 1952, the savings bank system underwent its most successful phase to date, with extremely high growth rates, although there were also strong government restrictions to combat inflation until the 1970s. In 1957, the ''Girozentrale'' was restructured from its Anschluss-era legal form under public law to a joint-stock corporation, the ''Girozentrale der Österreichische Sparkassen AG'', subsequently renamed ''Girozentrale und Bank der österreichische Sparkassen AG'' in 1965. In 1979, through the Banking Act and the Savings Banks Act, the savings banks were placed on an equal footing with other credit institutions, which meant a significant expansion of their scope of business. Volunteers were replaced on savings bank boards by full-time executives, and most state regulations were phased out. At the same time, the branch network and the associated number of employees kept expanding. In order to offer all financial services, numerous subsidiaries in the insurance, leasing and investment sectors were founded. There were also two major waves of mergers, with a significant reduction in the number of savings banks from 162 in 1979 to 128 in 1983 and 74 in 1994. The Austrian savings banks sector underwent major structural change in the 1990s. Following new legislation in 1986, many savings banks transferred their operations to joint-stock subsidiaries, which allowed the latter to raise external equity capital. In 1990–1991, the country's largest savings bank, Vienna's Zentralsparkasse, acquired the state-controlled
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, , ), even ...
and renamed itself
Bank Austria UniCredit Bank Austria AG, branded and widely referred to as Bank Austria, is an Austrian bank, 99,9965% owned by Milan-based pan-European banking group UniCredit. Bank Austria was formed in 1991 by merger of Vienna's Länderbank and Zentralspa ...
. Also in 1991, the ''Girozentrale'' purchased a retail bank, the , and renamed itself the ''GiroCredit Bank der Sparkassen'' in 1992. In 1994, Bank Austria took over control of GiroCredit, but in 1997 it absorbed Creditanstalt-Bankverein and moved decisively away from the savings banks market, selling GiroCredit to the ''Erste Österreichische Spar-Casse''. The latter merged with GiroCredit and took the name ''Erste Bank der oesterreichischen Sparkassen AG'', in short Erste Bank, thenceforth the savings banks' dominant financial institution. In 2001, the savings banks agreed to form a or mutual support pact, which was later designated as an institutional protection scheme (IPS) under EU law. In 2003, the
ERSTE Foundation ERSTE Foundation (in German DIE ERSTE österreichische Spar-Casse Privatstiftung or in short: ERSTE Stiftung) is the biggest Austrian savings bank foundation. In 2003, it evolved from the Erste österreichische Spar-Casse, the first Austrian sav ...
was created and became Erste Bank's parent entity. Meanwhile, the group expanded to 12 Eastern and Southeastern European countries.
Erste Group Bank Erste Group Bank AG (shortened version Erste Group) is an Austrian financial service provider. It is one of the largest financial service providers in Central and Eastern Europe serving more than 16 million clients in over 2,000 branches in seven ...
was founded in 2008 to serve as holding company, fully owning Erste Bank in Austria (now known as ) and also owning the group's foreign operations. As of the end of 2022, the ERSTE Foundation controlled 24.2 percent of the capital of Erste Group Bank, whose equity is publicly listed and otherwise largely dispersed.


Member savings banks

The savings banks that form the Sparkassengruppe Österreich are Vienna-based Erste Bank Österreich (an AG since 1993), 46 local savings banks outside of Vienna, Die Zweite Sparkasse, as well as (also known as sBausparkasse), a mortgage bank established in 1941. Outside of Vienna, the 46 local savings banks extant as of early 2024 are, by chronological order of creation (of the oldest entity in cases of subsequent mergers): * Tiroler Sparkasse in
Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...
(Vereinssparkasse est. 1822, AG since 1990) * in
Bregenz Bregenz (; ) is the capital of Vorarlberg, the westernmost states of Austria, state of Austria. The city lies on the east and southeast shores of Lake Constance, the third-largest freshwater lake in Central Europe, between Switzerland in the wes ...
(Vereinssparkasse est. 1822, now AG) *
Steiermärkische Sparkasse The Steiermärkische Bank und Sparkassen (Steiermärkische Sparkasse for short) is an Austrian sparkassen or savings bank based in Styria. It is a universal bank with services for private clients, small and medium-sized enterprises, private bankin ...
in
Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...
(Vereinssparkasse est. 1825, AG since 1991) * in Klagenfurt (Vereinssparkasse est. 1835, AG since 1990) * in Feldkirch (Vereinssparkasse est. 1842) * Allgemeine Sparkasse Oberosterreich in
Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...
(Vereinssparkasse est. 1849, AG since 1990) * in
Sankt Pölten Sankt Pölten (; Central Bavarian: ''St. Pödn''), mostly abbreviated to the official name St. Pölten, is the capital and largest city of the States of Austria, State of Lower Austria in northeast Austria, with 55,538 inhabitants as of 1 Januar ...
(Vereinssparkasse est. 1854, AG since 2000) * in
Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...
(Vereinssparkasse est. 1855, now AG) * in Krems (Vereinssparkasse est. 1856, AG since 1992) * in
Zwettl Zwettl (; Central Bavarian: ''Zwedl''; Czech: ''Světlá'') is a town and district capital of the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It is chiefly known as the location of Zwettl Abbey, first mentioned in October 1139. History The name origina ...
(Gemeindesparkasse est. 1856, now AG) * in
Scheibbs Scheibbs () is a town in Austria in the Scheibbs (district), Scheibbs district of Lower Austria. In 1886, it became the first town in Austria to have street lighting powered by electricity. Population Mayors *1950-1965: Anton Herok *1965-1983: ...
(Gemeindesparkasse est. 1858, AG since 2002) * in Poysdorf (Gemeindesparkasse est. 1860, AG since 2000) * in
Wiener Neustadt Wiener Neustadt (; Lower_Austria.html" ;"title=".e. Lower Austria">.e. Lower Austria , ) is a city located south of Vienna, in the state of Lower Austria, in northeast Austria. It is a self-governed city and the seat of the district administr ...
(Vereinssparkasse est. 1860) * in Lambach (Gemeindesparkasse est. 1861, now AG) * in
Horn Horn may refer to: Common uses * Horn (acoustic), a tapered sound guide ** Horn antenna ** Horn loudspeaker ** Vehicle horn ** Train horn *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various animals * Horn (instrument), a family ...
(Gemeindesparkasse est. 1862, AG since 1990) * in
Bad Ischl Bad Ischl (Austrian German ) is a spa town in Austria. It lies in the southern part of Upper Austria, at the river Traun in the centre of the Salzkammergut region. The town consists of the Katastralgemeinden ''Ahorn'', ''Bad Ischl'', ''Haiden ...
(Gemeindesparkasse est. 1863, AG since 2002) * in
Eferding Eferding () is the capital of the Eferding district in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Geography Eferding is the center of the Eferding basin. The city is 2 km away from the Danube River, in Upper Austria. History Eferding was appoi ...
(Vereinssparkasse est. 1864) * in
Ried im Innkreis Ried im Innkreis (Central Bavarian: ''Riad'') is a town in the Austrian state of Upper Austria, approximately west of Linz and north of Salzburg. It is the capital of the district of Ried im Innkreis (district), Ried im Innkreis, and it serves a ...
(Gemeindesparkasse est. 1866) * in
Dornbirn Dornbirn () is a city in the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg. It is the administrative centre for the district of Dornbirn, which also includes the town of Hohenems, and the market town Lustenau. Dornbirn is the largest city in Vorarlb ...
(Gemeindesparkasse est. 1867, AG since 2002) * in Hainburg (Gemeindesparkasse est. 1867, now AG) * in
Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...
(Vereinssparkasse est. 1868) * in
Voitsberg Voitsberg () is a small city in the district of Voitsberg in Styria, Austria, with a population of c. 9,400 . It grew upon the St. Margaret church at the Tregistbach river and was first mentioned in 1220 as Civitas. Remains of the Greisenegg pa ...
(Gemeindesparkasse est. 1868, AG since 1992) * in
Korneuburg Korneuburg (; Central Bavarian: ''Korneibuag'') is a town in Austria. It is located in the state Lower Austria and is the administrative center of the district of Korneuburg (district), Korneuburg. Korneuburg is situated on the left bank of the ...
(Gemeindesparkasse est. 1869, AG since 2008) * in
Mürzzuschlag Mürzzuschlag () is a town in northeastern Styria, Austria, the capital of the former Mürzzuschlag District. It is located on the Mürz river near the Semmering Pass, the border with the state of Lower Austria, about southwest of Vienna. The ...
(Gemeindesparkasse est. 1869, AG since 2001) * in
Rohrbach Rohrbach or Röhrbach may refer to: Places Municipalities in Switzerland *Rohrbach, Switzerland, in the canton of Bern Municipalities in Germany *Rohrbach, Bavaria, in the district of Pfaffenhofen, Bavaria *Rohrbach, Birkenfeld, in the district o ...
(Gemeindesparkasse est. 1869, now AG) * in
Herzogenburg Herzogenburg is a town in the district of Sankt Pölten-Land in the Austrian state of Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities ...
(Vereinssparkasse est. 1870, AG since 2014) * in
Langenlois Langenlois () is a town at the Kamp river in the Kamptal, district of Krems-Land in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. Famous for its wine production, it is also home to the Loisium, a centre celebrating and advertising the local wine and built ...
(Vereinssparkasse est. 1871) * in Neunkirchen (Vereinssparkasse est. 1871) * in Pöllau (Gemeindesparkasse est. 1872, AG since 2003) * in
Schwaz Schwaz () is a city in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is the administrative center of the Schwaz district. Schwaz is located in the lower Inn valley. Location Schwaz lies in the middle of the Lower Inn Valley at the foot of the Kellerjoch ...
(Vereinssparkasse est. 1872, now AG) * in
Egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...
(Gemeindesparkasse est. 1873) * in Pottenstein (Vereinssparkasse est. 1873) * in Amstetten (Gemeindesparkasse est. 1874, now AG) * in Feldkirchen (Vereinssparkasse est. 1874) * in Haugsdorf (Vereinssparkasse est. 1874) * in
Kufstein Kufstein (; ) is a town in the Austrian state of Tyrol, the administrative seat of Kufstein District. With a population of about 20,000 it is the second largest Tyrolean town after the state capital Innsbruck. The greatest landmark is Kufstein For ...
(Vereinssparkasse est. 1877) * in
Lienz Lienz (; Southern Bavarian: ''Lianz'') is a medieval town in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is the administrative centre of the Lienz district, which covers all of East Tyrol. The municipality also includes the cadastral subdivision of ''Pat ...
(Vereinssparkasse est. 1878, AG since 2003) * in
Imst Imst (; Southern Bavarian: ''Imscht'') is a town in the Austrian federal state of Tyrol. It lies on the River Inn in western Tyrol, some west of Innsbruck and at an altitude of above sea level. With a current population (2018) of 10,504, Imst ...
(Vereinssparkasse est. 1882, now AG) * in
Bludenz Bludenz (; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ''Bludaz'') is a town in the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg with around 15,000 inhabitants. It is the administrative seat of the Bludenz District, which encompasses about half of Vorarlberg's territ ...
(Gemeindesparkasse est. 1892, AG since 2004) * in
Frankenmarkt Frankenmarkt is a municipality in the district of Vöcklabruck in the Austrian state of Upper Austria Upper Austria ( ; ; ) is one of the nine States of Austria, states of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech ...
(Gemeindesparkasse est. 1894, AG since 1991) * in
Mittersill Mittersill (; ) is a city in the federal state of Salzburg, Austria, in the Pinzgau region of the Alps. It is located on the Salzach River. It has a population of 5,408 as of 2011. Geography Mittersill lies approximately 25 km to the west o ...
(Gemeindesparkasse est. 1894, AG since 2002) * in Pregarten (Gemeindesparkasse est. 1895, AG since 2003) * in
Kitzbühel Kitzbühel (, also: ; ) is a town rights, medieval town situated in the Kitzbühel Alps along the river Kitzbüheler Ache in Tyrol (state), Tyrol, Austria, about east of the state capital Innsbruck and is the administrative centre of the Kitzbüh ...
(Gemeindesparkasse est. 1899) * in Neuhofen (Gemeindesparkasse est. 1900, now AG) * in
Rattenberg Rattenberg () is a City on the Inn River in the Austrian state of Tyrol near Rattenberg mountain and Innsbruck. With just 400 inhabitants and a surface area of 10 ha, it is the smallest city in the country. Geography The proximity of a mountain ...
(Gemeindesparkasse est. 1910, now AG) * in
Reutte Reutte (; Swabian: ) is a town in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is the administrative center of the Reutte district (''Districts of Austria''). Reutte is located on the Lech, and has a population of 6,704 (as of 2018). Neighbouring municipal ...
(Gemeindesparkasse est. 1917, AG since 2006) Die Zweite Sparkasse (full name ''Die Zweite Wiener Vereins-Sparcasse'') is a ''Vereinssparkasse'' created in 2006 by the
ERSTE Foundation ERSTE Foundation (in German DIE ERSTE österreichische Spar-Casse Privatstiftung or in short: ERSTE Stiftung) is the biggest Austrian savings bank foundation. In 2003, it evolved from the Erste österreichische Spar-Casse, the first Austrian sav ...
in Vienna. It relies on volunteer work from employees of the other Sparkassengruppe entities. Erste Bank Österreich is wholly owned by
Erste Group Bank Erste Group Bank AG (shortened version Erste Group) is an Austrian financial service provider. It is one of the largest financial service providers in Central and Eastern Europe serving more than 16 million clients in over 2,000 branches in seven ...
, and in turn owns stakes in Salzburger Sparkasse (100 percent, as of end 2022), Tiroler Sparkasse (75 percent), Sparkasse Hainburg-Bruck-Neusiedl (75 percent), Sparkasse Mittersill (40 percent), Steiermärkische Sparkasse (25 percent), Kärntner Sparkasse (25 percent), Allgemeine Sparkasse Oberösterreich in Linz (19 percent), Sparkasse Voitsberg-Köflach (4 percent) as well as sBausparkasse (100 percent). It has no equity stake in the other local Austrian savings banks. The local savings banks in Austria are governed by private-sector law, unlike most of their German counterparts which are public-law organizations (). Since 1986, they have had the option of transferring their business operations to a subsidiary joint-stock corporation (, AG), whereas the prior entity would retain its savings bank status as a "participation-managing savings bank" (, AVS). From early 1999, AVSs have been allowed to convert into a foundation (). As of early 2024, 33 local savings banks operated as AG, 13 savings banks had retained their prior status (i.e. no joint-stock entity), of which 10 and 3 . Following mergers and other transactions, the joint-stock savings banks may have multiple shareholders including AVSs and foundations. The local savings bank and Vienna-based Erste Bank Österreich do not compete in retail services within each other's territorial remit, thus operating under a ''de facto'' "regional principle" () similarly to the German
Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe The ''Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe'' ("Savings Banks Financial Group") is a network of public banks that together form the largest financial services group in Germany and Europe by assets. Its name refers to local government-controlled savings banks ...
, even though an earlier mandatory ''Regionalprinzip'' was abolished by the 1979 savings bank legislation. The Zweite Sparkasse has operations in all of Austria except Vorarlberg, however.


Group-level arrangements and deposit guarantee

The Sparkassen-Haftungs GmbH (or S-Haftungs GmbH) operates the deposit guarantee scheme of the Sparkassengruppe, which is separate from the other Austrian deposit insurance systems. It was established in 1988 as a corporate entity, and was recognized in January 2019 by the Austrian Financial Market Authority as a mandatory deposit guarantee scheme in line with Austrian and EU legislation. Under Austrian law, the Sparkassengruppe deposit guarantee scheme may be called to intervene if the other two schemes, the uniform (ESA) and that of the Raiffeisen Banking Group, are depleted; conversely, the two other schemes may protect savings banks' depositors if the Sparkassengruppe scheme becomes depleted. The Austrian state may intervene if all three schemes are depleted. Because of the scheme's mandatory character and public guarantees, S-Haftungs GmbH has been classified as part of the Austrian government sector by
Eurostat Eurostat ("European Statistical Office"; also DG ESTAT) is a department of the European Commission ( Directorate-General), located in the Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Eurostat's main responsibilities are to provide statist ...
for national accounts purposes, despite misgivings from Sparkassengruppe representatives. The joint liability scheme (, also referred to as "cross-guarantee scheme") relies on a separate entity, Haftungsverbund GmbH. It overlaps, but does not coincide, with the institutional guarantee scheme, which relies on an "ex-ante fund" managed by a jointly owned entity, IPS GesbR. As an exception to the ''Haftungsverbund'', the Allgemeine Sparkasse Oberösterreich in 2009 secured a trilateral cross-guarantee agreement with Erste Group Bank and Erste Bank Österreich. As of August 2022, Haftungsverbund GmbH's shareholders were Erste Bank Österreich (51 percent) and Erste Group Bank AG (1 percent), the rest being held by local savings banks including those for Styria (12.7 percent), Upper Austria (8 percent), Salzburg (3.2 percent) and Carinthia (2.8 percent). In total, Erste Group controls 64 percent of Haftungsverbund GmbH directly or indirectly, and likewise with Sparkassen-Haftungs GmbH. The replaced an earlier regime of guarantee of the municipal savings banks (Gemeindesparkassen) by the relevant municipalities, which had been established by law in 1929 but was gradually phased out from 2003 onwards at the request of the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
. The Vereinssparkassen did not benefit from similar guarantees before the creation of the .


Auditing

In accordance with Austrian savings bank legislation, the Sparkassengruppe relies on an in-house auditor, the ''Sparkassen-Prüfungsverband'' (also known as the ''Prüfungsstelle''), jointly with an external audit firm.


See also

*
Raiffeisen Bank International Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) is a key entity of the decentralized Raiffeisen Banking Group in Austria, acting both as the latter's domestic central financial entity and as the holding company for all the group's operations outside of Aus ...
*
Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe The ''Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe'' ("Savings Banks Financial Group") is a network of public banks that together form the largest financial services group in Germany and Europe by assets. Its name refers to local government-controlled savings banks ...
in Germany


Notes

{{reflist Banks of Austria