Creditanstalt
 |
|
| Subsidiary of Unicredit | |
| Industry | Finance and Insurance |
| Founded | 1855 |
| Founder | Anselm von Rothschild |
| Headquarters | Vienna, Austria |
|
Key people
|
Anselm von Rothschild, founder |
| Products | Commercial banking, Investment banking, Private banking, Asset management |
| Revenue | € bn (as of 2004[update]) |
| Website | www |
The Creditanstalt (sometimes Credit-Anstalt, abbreviated CA) was an Austrian bank based in Vienna.
In 1820, Salomon Mayer von Rothschild established the first bank in Vienna, then the capital of the Austrian Empire. In the course of early industrialisation, the Rothschild bank financed large development projects, such as the building of the Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway to the Moravian mining regions. Rothschild also acted as generous lender to Austrian state chancellor Prince Klemens von Metternich and granted copious credits to the Bohemian and Hungarian aristocracy.
The Creditanstalt was founded in 1855 by von Rothschild's son Anselm as K. k. priv. Österreichische Credit-Anstalt für Handel und Gewerbe (approximately translated, Imperial royal privileged Austrian Credit Institute for Commerce and Industry). Being very successful, it soon became the largest bank of Austria-Hungary.
Anselm's son, Albert, took control of the Credit-Anstalt in 1872, succeeded by Louis de Rothschild in 1911. In 1912, the new headquarters in Vienna's Innere Stadt opened in a lavishly decorated Neoclassical building, which is still preserved to the present.
The business situation dramatically changed with Austria's defeat in the First World War and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and empire. In the late 1920s, a principal debtor, the Steyr-Werke AG faced financial difficulties, with bad loans leading to a drain on finances. In October 1929, the Schober government compelled the allegedly well-financed Credit-Anstalt to assume liabilities, which together with the simultaneous Wall Street Crash led to the financial imbalance of the then-largest Austrian credit provider.
...
Wikipedia