!!!Creditanstalt-Bankverein AG, CA

Creditanstalt-Bankverein AG, CA, founded in 1855 under the name 
K. k. "Oesterreichische Credit-Anstalt fuer Handel und Gewerbe" 
(Austrian Credit Institute for Trade and Industry), under the 
leadership of the House of  Rothschild, became the largest bank of the 
Austro-Hungarian monarchy. In 1926 it took over the "Anglo-Austrian 
Bank" and in 1929 the Allgemeine Oesterreichische  Bodencreditanstalt 
(General Austrian Land Credit Bank). When these transactions, together 
with the beginning of the Great Depression, proved too much for the 
CA, it was financially restored in 1931 in a common effort by the 
Austrian Republic, the Austrian  National Bank and the House of 
Rothschild and merged with the Wiener Bankverein in 1934. Subsequently 
the bank was called "Oesterreichische Creditanstalt-Wiener Bankverein" 
(Austrian Credit Institute-Vienna Bank Association). In 1938 the 
majority of shares was transferred first to a holding company of the 
German Reich, then to the Deutsche Bank; numerous interests in 
industries had to be ceded; in 1939 its name was changed to 
"Creditanstalt-Bankverein".

\\
In 1946 the interests of the CA were conveyed to the Republic of 
Austria, as provided by the first nationalisation law ( 
Nationalisation), from 1956-1957 40 % of the capital was sold to 
private investors by issuing ordinary and preference shares, from 1964 
more emphasis was laid on business activities with private customers 
(personal loans). In the mid-1970s the CA for the first time ranked 
among the 100 largest banks in the world; in 1980 it opened its 
Technical Centre in Vienna. In the 1980s branches were opened in 
London, New York and Hong Kong. In 1987 the public interest was 
reduced to 51 %.

\\
Since the early 1990s stronger representation in the reform countries 
of Central and Eastern Europe has been the bank's new focus in foreign 
activities. In 1996 the CA had 81 branches abroad and over 255 at home 
as well as numerous representative and subsidiary banks. The balance 
sheet total amounted to ATS 687.6 billion, staff: 9,845.

\\
The industrial group of the CA, after 1945 one of Austria´s 
largest, was largely re-structured and re-organised from the 1970s. In 
1996, the CA held interests in industry, trade and in the service 
sector, such as  Semperit AG Holding,  Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG,  
Universale Baugesellschaft AG,  Wienerberger Baustoffindustrie AG,  
Donau Chemie AG, etc.

\\
In 1991 the Minister of Finance was legally empowered to sell the 
shares of the Republic of Austria, which were taken over by  Bank 
Austria AG in 1997. By 1998 Bank Austria had acquired further shares 
and had all shares turned into Bank Austria shares. In 1998 
restructuring to form the Bank Austria group took place, with the  
Creditanstalt AG and Bank Austria Creditanstalt International AG as 
100% subsidiaries of Bank Austria AG. The affiliated companies of what 
had been the CA remained with Creditanstalt AG.


%%language
[Back to the Austrian Version|AEIOU/Creditanstalt-Bankverein_AG,_CA|class='wikipage austrian']
%%

[{FreezeArticle author='AEIOU' template='Lexikon_1995_englisch'}]
[{ALLOW view All}][{ALLOW comment All}][{ALLOW edit FreezeAdmin}]