BAWAG

Bank für Arbeit und Wirtschaft AG

Type	Private
Industry	Finance and Insurance
Founded	1922
Headquarters	Vienna, Austria
Key people	Ewald Nowotny, Chairman of Management Board
Products	Commercial banking, Investment banking, Private banking, Asset management
Revenue	€ 56,271 mn (2004, as part of the merged BAWAG P.S.K.)
Number of employees	~6.280 (2004, as part of BAWAG P.S.K.)
Website	BAWAG and PSK website

BAWAG (German language: Bank für Arbeit und Wirtschaft) is a bank in Austria. On October 1, 2005, it merged with the separate Österreichische Postsparkasse (P.S.K.) to form the "Bank für Arbeit und Wirtschaft und Österreichische Postsparkasse AG", shortened as BAWAG P.S.K.. The Austrian company BAWAG is owned by the American company Cerberus Capital Management.

BAWAG was founded in 1922 by the Austrian Chancellor Dr. Karl Renner as the Arbeiterbank (Austrian Worker's Bank), not so much to extend favourable terms of credit to ordinary people, but to spare them to resort to more capitalist institutions (cit. Renner). Socialist trade unions and the Großeinkaufsgesellschaft für österreichische Consumvereine (Austrian consumer associations procurement company) each hold a 40% stake in the bank. However, because of those close ties to the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and labour unions, BAWAG was forced to close in 1934 by the Austro-fascist government of Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß. It resumed its operations after the end of World War II in 1947.

In 1963, it took the name of Bank für Arbeit und Wirtschaft AG (BAWAG, translatable as "Bank for Labour and Business"). The bank continued to have close relations to social democratic party SPÖ and the unions. The Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) retained 70% of the shares, the other 30% were held by the Konsum retail cooperative chain. In the 1970s, popular products were the Kapitalsparbuch (Capital Sparing account) and the Betriebsratskredit. At the same period, the bank actively used its finances to sponsor the promotion of Austrian contemporary art and culture. The BAWAG Foundation was established in 1974 with the goal of making art as accessible as possible to all people.