Graubünden credit union
| Graubünden credit union | |
|---|---|
| legal form | cooperative |
| founding | 1914 |
| resolution | 1931 |
| Reason for dissolution | liquidation |
| Seat | Grisons |
| Branch | Credit industry |
The Grisons credit union was in December 1914 on the initiative of the government of the canton of Grisons , founded cooperative in support of the cantonal hotel industry, by the outbreak of World War I was experiencing financial difficulties. This support included loans in the event of liquidity bottlenecks , but also advice on restructuring and operational management. Originally planned for a few years, the cooperative continued its activity in the interwar period. In 1931, the sole lender, the Graubündner Kantonalbank , took over the assets and liabilities against offsetting all of its claims against the Bündner Kreditgenossenschaft and liquidated them with great losses.
The hotel crisis as a result of the outbreak of the First World War
The outbreak of the First World War resulted in the departure of foreign guests at the premature end of the 1914 summer season and left many hotel businesses in default of their suppliers and creditors . In the good years, most companies had hardly built up any reserves to fall back on in times of need. In the Upper Engadin, the fact that a large number of rather speculative hotel buildings with high external financing had been built in view of the development of the region by the Albula Railway in 1903 was aggravating .
The crisis in the tourism industry quickly spread to the entire economy, which is heavily dependent on tourism. A survey by the Graubünden government in October 1914 led to 141 requests for support that totaled 8 million Swiss francs. To alleviate the crisis, the government council proposed to the cantonal parliament that a credit cooperative should be established with a cooperative capital of around 4 million Swiss francs. The cooperative capital should primarily be raised by the beneficiaries of the facility. The loan applicants - the distressed hotels or suppliers - should bring in 25 percent of the loan approved by the cooperative in the form of share certificates. Of the invoices paid from the loan, the creditors of the borrowers should subscribe 25 percent of the invoice amount in the form of share certificates. The municipalities were supposed to contribute 5 percent of the loan amount granted to the local businesses, further contributions were expected from the banks involved. The Graubündner Kantonalbank was authorized to grant the planned credit union a loan in the amount of three times the cooperative capital, i.e. around 12 million Swiss francs. Bills of exchange issued by the borrowers in favor of the cooperative , which the latter transferred through endorsement of the Bündner Kantonalbank, should serve as security .
founding
As early as December 9, 1914, the constituent general assembly of the Bündner Kreditgenossenschaft took place in order to maintain viable enterprises and to prevent the decline of important values . The management transferred the cooperative to the Kantonalbank. The management of the cooperative was taken over by a five-member board with representatives from the canton, the cantonal bank and other banks, all of which were appointed on the basis of a binding proposal by the government council. During the entire existence of the credit union, the office of President was in the hands of the Cantonal Bank President Johann Martin Niggli.
At the end of the first financial year on December 31, 1915, the cooperative capital reached the amount of 2,481,600 Swiss francs. The shares were distributed among the borrowers with 1,285,400 Swiss francs, the cantonal bank with 420,000 Swiss francs, the municipalities with 270,000 Swiss francs and the creditors of the borrowers and other interested parties with 506,200 Swiss francs.
The cooperative only granted loans against corresponding collateral , for example by pledging securities . Most of the loans, however, were granted by the cooperative as subordinated mortgage loans . The normal mortgage loans went up to a maximum lending value of 60 percent. According to its statutes, the credit union initially granted loans up to 70 percent of the official estimate of the pre-war value and increased this to 80 percent in 1917/18. The interest rate , also stipulated in the articles of association of the cooperative, was a minimum of 5 percent and was 1 percent above the discount rate of the Swiss National Bank .
The credit union's support for the hotel industry was not limited to financial aid. As early as December 1915, on her initiative, the Association for the Promotion of the Hotel Industry in Graubünden was established . This supported the hotels in improving operational management, such as more accurate bookkeeping , price regulation and improved advertising.
Only in exceptional cases did the cooperative take over hotels that were no longer able to repay their loans. In 1917 the Hotel Neues Stahlbad in St. Moritz , which was already struggling with financial difficulties before the First World War, came into their own for 500,000 Swiss francs, after a first foreclosure auction for the company, which was estimated at 3.5 million in the pre-war period, failed to come into their own Found prospect.
Persistence of the crisis in the interwar period
The end of the First World War initially brought no improvement in the difficult situation in the hotel industry. As a result of the war, many countries were impoverished, and passports and new visa regulations made travel difficult. So the foreign guests stayed away. Post-war inflation in Switzerland exacerbated the situation in hotels again and from 1919 the number of loan applications rose again. At the same time, hotels were increasingly falling behind with interest payments, so that the credit union's outstanding interest rates increased.
As a result, the Grand Council increased the maximum credit granted by the Cantonal Bank to the credit union from 10 to 15 million Swiss francs. The ratio between cooperative capital and credit changed from 1: 3 to 1: 4. Since the situation did not improve in the following years, the increased funds for granting credit were soon exhausted. The activities of the credit cooperative thus shifted from granting loans to monitoring the loans granted and advising on the voluntary renovation of ailing hotel companies.
In 1921, the Bündner Kreditgenossenschaft, which only operates in the canton of Graubünden, was given a sister organization for the whole of Switzerland: the Swiss Hotel Trust Company (SHGT). Their objectives were largely identical, however, in contrast to the credit union, the Hotel-Treuhand-Gesellschaft had the legal means to force the creditors to waive claims in the event of a restructuring. The two organizations quickly agreed that the Bündner Kreditgenossenschaft should make a preparatory assessment of the requests for assistance to the hotel trust company from the canton of Graubünden. The SHGT compensated for its previous effort with 10,000 Swiss francs. The close connection between the two organizations is also reflected in the fact that the managing director of the cooperative, Cantonal Bank President Johann Martin Niggli, also sat on the board of directors of the Swiss Hotel Treuhand-Gesellschaft.
From 1921 it became apparent that the liquidation of the cooperative would only be possible with a loss. In 1922 she began to write off her capital owed or to take shares in restructured companies instead of repaying the loans. From 1925, in view of the liquidation loss, it intensified the reduction of the loans granted, sometimes with considerable losses.
liquidation
On April 30, 1931, the Bündner Kreditgenossenschaft went into liquidation . This was done by transferring its assets and liabilities to the Graubündner Kantonalbank against offsetting its claims against the cooperative. The cooperative capital of 1,140,300 Swiss francs had to be written off completely - something that had been evident for the shareholders for years. For the assets to be taken over, the Kantonalbank had already made a provision of a little more than 1 million Swiss francs in previous years. Since 1914, the cooperative had granted loans totaling 16,869,555.90 Swiss francs. Half of it had to be written off, plus losses from interest outstanding of more than 2 million Swiss francs. Overall, the takeover resulted in a net loss of 4.5 million Swiss francs for the cantonal bank after offsetting against the securities holdings of the credit union. Thanks to the provisions already made, she coped with the loss.
In its final report, the board of directors was convinced that, in its fifteen years of activity, the Bündner Kreditgenossenschaft had, by and large, achieved the goal defined when it was founded, namely to enable viable companies to survive the crisis. These businesses included the Thusis Hotel Company , the Cresta Palace Hotel in Celerina , the United Hotels Bergün , and the Victoria Hotels and the Grand Hotel in St. Moritz .
literature
- Daniela Decurtins , Susi Grossmann: For better or for worse. Schweizerische Bankgesellschaft, Chur 1994, p. 56f, p. 68.
- Carl Jaeger: The Swiss Hotel Treuhand Society 1921-1946. 25 years of crisis in the Swiss hotel industry and overcoming it with the help of the federal government. Orell-Füssli, Zurich 1947, pp. 20–24.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Daniela Decurtins, Susi Grossmann: For better and for worse. Swiss Bank Corporation, Chur 1994, p. 56.
- ^ A b c Carl Jaeger: The Swiss Hotel Treuhand Society 1921-1946. 25 years of crisis in the Swiss hotel industry and overcoming it with the help of the federal government. Orell-Füssli, Zurich 1947, p. 21.
- ^ Carl Jaeger: The Swiss Hotel Treuhand Society 1921-1946. 25 years of crisis in the Swiss hotel industry and its overcoming with the help of the federal government. Orell-Füssli, Zurich 1947, p. 22.
- ↑ a b Daniela Decurtins, Susi Grossmann: For better and for worse. Schweizerische Bankgesellschaft, Chur 1994, p. 57.
- ^ A b c Carl Jaeger: The Swiss Hotel Treuhand Society 1921-1946. 25 years of crisis in the Swiss hotel industry and overcoming it with the help of the federal government. Orell-Füssli, Zurich 1947, p. 23.
- ↑ Daniela Decurtins, Susi Grossmann: For better and for worse. Schweizerische Bankgesellschaft, Chur 1994, p. 63.
- ^ A b c d e Carl Jaeger: The Swiss Hotel Treuhand Society 1921-1946. 25 years of crisis in the Swiss hotel industry and overcoming it with the help of the federal government. Orell-Füssli, Zurich 1947, p. 24.
- ↑ Daniela Decurtins, Susi Grossmann: For better and for worse. Schweizerische Bankgesellschaft, Chur 1994, p. 65.
- ↑ Swiss Financial Yearbook. Year 34, 1932, Polytechnic Institute for Publishing and Publicity, Bern 1932, p. 237.
- ↑ Daniela Decurtins, Susi Grossmann: For better and for worse. Swiss Bank Corporation, Chur 1994, p. 68.