Bank Medici

Bank Medici AG
legal form	Corporation
founding	1984
Seat	Vienna , Austria
management	Sonja Kohn
Branch	Private bank

The Bank Medici AG was an Austrian private bank .

structure

Bank Medici was founded in 1984 by the investment banker Sonja Kohn , who advised the Austrian government on economic matters and is the bank's chairman on the supervisory board. In 2003 the company was converted into an AG and renamed to Bank Medici AG .

75 percent of Bank Medici, based in Vienna , Operngasse 6/4, was owned by the founder and Bank Austria held the remaining 25 percent plus one share . In addition to the deputy chairman Ferdinand Lacina , who was finance minister in Austria from 1986 to 1995 , Johann Farnleitner , who was federal minister for economic affairs from 1996 to 2000 , was entered on the bank's supervisory board . The bank's activities included national and international financial services, investment advice and brokerage of securities transactions .

Turbulence

At the beginning of December 2008, the private bank hit the headlines because it is said to have sold billions of dollars in Bernard L. Madoff's funds, which were built on a Ponzi scheme . The commissions in the amount of approx. 9 million euros for the brokerage of Madoff funds represented the main business of the bank in 2007 with 70 percent of the operating income. The result published by the management board on December 19, 2008 after the supervisory board meeting was: The status of the bank is solid, it has no capital or liquidity problems . On January 2, 2009, as a result of the developments, the bank was forcibly placed under state supervision and a government commissioner was appointed. On December 10, 2010, Bank Medici, Sonja Kohn and others (persons less important to the bank) were sued in New York for damages amounting to around 15 billion euros. This lawsuit is related to the Bernard L. Madoff scandal.

In November 2008, the Viennese bankers took first place in “Germany's Hedgefund Award”.

completion

On March 19, 2009, the Supervisory Board announced the liquidation of the bank and the return of the license to the Austrian Financial Market Authority . The liquidation of the company is not under discussion.

On May 28, 2009, the Financial Market Authority surprisingly withdrew the license from Bank Medici AG with immediate effect . The company fell short of the legally required initial capital of five million euros. This means that the bank is no longer entitled to carry out banking transactions in accordance with Section 1 (1) of the Banking Act.