Commercial bank Mattersburg in Burgenland

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  Commerzialbank Mattersburg im Burgenland AG
logo
Country AustriaAustria Austria
Seat Mattersburg
legal form Corporation
Bank code 19620
BIC CBMUAT21XXX
founding 1995
Website ebanking.commerzialbank.at
Business data 2018
Total assets approx. 794 million euros (according to own information)
insoles approx. 437.5 million euros
Employee 71
Offices 9
management
Board Walter Hack
Former, since resigned:
Martin Pucher (former chairman)
Franziska Klikovits
Supervisory board Josef Giefing (Chairman)
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The Commerzialbank Mattersburg im Burgenland AG (short form and logo cb ) was a financial institution in Burgenland . The bank, founded in 1995 with eight branches, was based in Mattersburg . It was forcibly closed in 2020 after extensive falsification of the balance sheet became known.

History & organization

Founder and board member Martin Pucher

The bank was founded in 1995. Martin Pucher, as the head of the 1929 founded “Raiffeisenbank Schattendorf-Zemendorf-Stöttera-Krensdorf-Hirm-Loipersbach-Draßburg-Baumgarten reg.Gen.mbH” based in Schattendorf, split the bank from the Raiffeisen sector after a dispute about the business direction . For this purpose, a stock corporation with its seat in Mattersburg was founded and the banking business was transferred from the Raiffeisen bank cooperative to the new stock corporation. The new bank was initially called "Commerzbank Mattersburg im Burgenland AG", but had to change it to "Commerzialbank Mattersburg im Burgenland AG" after protests by the German financial institution of the same name in 1997. After the banking business was outsourced, the Raiffeisenbank was renamed “Personal and Commercial Loan Mediation and Share Management Cooperative Schattendorf-Zemendorf-Stöttera-Krensdorf-Hirm-Loipersbach-Draßburg-Baumgarten reg.Gen.mbH”, moved its headquarters to Mattersburg and remained as the main shareholder of the Commerzialbankersburg consist.

At the time of its closure, the bank had eight other branches in Baumgarten , Draßburg , Forchtenstein , Hirm , Krensdorf , Loipersbach , Schattendorf and Zemendorf in the Mattersburg district in addition to the headquarters in Mattersburg . The main shareholder of the stock corporation was the aforementioned share management cooperative, which held around 79% of the shares. 18.4% of the shares were in the free float of smaller shareholders, including the CEO Martin Pucher. In addition to Pucher, Franziska Klikovits and Walter Hack were also on the board. The ten-member supervisory board consisted mainly of local entrepreneurs, chaired by Josef Giefing.

Around two weeks after the bank was temporarily closed, on July 27, 2020, the Financial Market Authority filed an application to open insolvency proceedings with the Eisenstadt public prosecutor . According to initial information from the government commissioner Bernhard Mechtler , the institute was arithmetically (after adjusting the balance sheet) over-indebted to the extent of 528 million euros, later information spoke of 690 million euros in invented assets and fictitious credits, which were offset by real deposits of 490 million euros. In the course of the investigation, Pucher stated that he and his colleague on the board, Klikovits, had begun to gloss over the balance sheet by means of falsified balance confirmations as early as 1992, before the bank was split off from the Raiffeisen sector. This got out of hand and after a certain point could no longer be reversed. In fact, the bank had been bankrupt since 2000.

Accounting scandal

development

As early as 2015 and 2017, the Financial Market Authority (FMA) identified problems during so-called on-site inspections, which, however, were considered to have been resolved during follow-up inspections. The Eisenstadt public prosecutor's office had also investigated for a few months in 2015 after a whistleblower had reported dubious credit transactions, but the investigations were discontinued "due to a lack of initial suspicion".

On July 14, 2020, the FMA ordered the bank to be closed immediately after inconsistencies were found in the accounting. This closure took effect on July 15, 2020, and a government commissioner took over the administration. Founder and director Martin Pucher resigned on the same day. The public prosecutor's office for business and corruption confirmed a report from the FMA suspected of falsification of accounts and breach of trust. The Burgenland Governor Hans Peter Doskozil announced in an initial reaction that the situation of the institute was dramatic and that the continuation of business operations was out of the question. The bank must be liquidated. According to the first information, the balance sheet of the money house had been tweaked by around 500 million euros (more than half of the stated total assets). Corresponding balances (so-called interbank deposits ) of the Commerzialbank Mattersburg with other Austrian banks did not exist, the related receipts were forged. The main part of the amount in question made up alleged balances of 40 to 65 million euros each with eight large Austrian banks. In addition, loans were faked in order to be able to simulate interest income. In some cases, loans were opened in the name of real customers of the bank, but in some cases Pucher and Klikovits also selected completely uninvolved persons from public directories. Of the 350 million euros in customer loans according to the balance sheet, 180 million euros were forged in this way. There were also allegations that Pucher had secretly transferred cash to insolvent borrowers (including a former board member of the bank), which they could smuggle into their companies using bogus invoices. According to an initial assessment, CEO Pucher “went astray because of grandiose business, donations to the football club and stricter requirements regarding capital buffers.” He let it be known through his lawyer that he would fully cooperate with the authorities. The extent to which the bank's supervisory board failed in its control function vis-à-vis the management board is part of the investigation. The appointment of the members of the supervisory board, mostly local tradespeople, was made by the general meeting of the owners, including board member Martin Pucher. The board of directors thus had an influence on the composition of its controlling body.

After the falsification of accounts, which had apparently been practiced for years, became known, the bank auditing company TPA came under fire. It had audited the bank's business from 2006 to 2018; the 2019 audit had not yet been completed. The company rejected the criticism that the Commerzialbank Mattersburg had deceived them with “high criminal energy”. The bank had abused the auditors' trust and presented the above-mentioned falsified receipts for balances at other banks. For at least 10 years, Pucher's closest colleague had created falsified receipts on letterhead and with envelopes from the respective banks and thus sent them to the auditors. Actually, they would be obliged to obtain the bank confirmations themselves directly from the respective credit institutions. On behalf of the Province of Burgenland, the TPA Group was also responsible for auditing the main owner of the bank, the cooperative mentioned above. Robert Holzmann , Governor of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank , rejected a responsibility of his institute, since it was not the job of the OeNB to audit the auditors. Their deception is the decisive point in this "criminal case in which an internal pyramid game was created with the greatest energy and finesse."

Effects

As a result of the closure, customers of the bank could neither withdraw money from ATMs nor make transfers, nor were payments by debit card possible. You have been asked to open new accounts with other banking institutions. Thanks to the deposit insurance decided in the context of the global financial crisis in 2008, affected bank customers can receive compensation of up to 100,000 euros per person. Any further claims can only be asserted in insolvency proceedings, where they are usually only served at low percentages. The pension insurance company paid out pensions in the short term in cash.

The major victims of the accounting scandal include Energie Burgenland AG, which had invested 5 million euros at the Commerzialbank. The technology company Frequentis had about 31 million euros in the bank. The concert organizer Barracuda ( Nova Rock , Frequency Festival) , which had deposits of 34 million euros, had to fear similar losses . The housing company EGW Heimstätte also had assets of around 30 million euros. Several municipalities in Burgenland had also invested part of their budget at Commerzialbank Mattersburg. A total of 13,500 "larger" customers were particularly affected by the accounting scandal. The Bundesliga club SV Mattersburg is particularly affected by the scandal . Bank director Pucher had built up the association for around 30 years and was also its chairman. Around 4.9 million euros of the 11 million euros annual budget of the football club was due to sponsorship by the Commerzialbank; a large part of the amount is likely to have been "invented" by means of fictitious accounts and by manipulating real contracts in the bank. After the search for a new main sponsor had failed, the club decided to put aside its Bundesliga license and stop playing. The SV Mattersburg football academy , in which the state of Burgenland holds a 40% stake, is to be continued as a state sports center for popular sport. Governor Doskozil ruled out the use of public funds to rescue the bank himself, but the state took over a guarantee of 80% for corporate loans up to a value of 100,000 euros. Furthermore, as the injured party (due to losses of Energie Burgenland AG and Regional Management Burgenland), the state is seeking an official liability suit. The responsible authorities did not respond appropriately to a money laundering allegation against a member of the bank's board of directors and sponsor of SV Mattersburg in 2018 and to the report by the financial market supervisory authority in 2015 on suspicion of breach of trust in connection with credit transactions.

Political turmoil

The scandal brought back memories of the manipulation of the balance sheet at Bank Burgenland that had become public 20 years earlier . At that time, the economically weak country, as the owner of the bank, which was about to go bankrupt due to failed loans, had to contribute large sums to rescue it. This resulted in the resignation of Governor Karl Stix and subsequent new elections. However, since the Commerzialbank Mattersburg (unlike Bank Burgenland at the time) is a private institute, such consequences were not expected despite the similar magnitude of the fraud. On August 1, 2020, however, the Burgenland Economic Councilor Christian Illedits resigned. He had come under pressure in advance, as he had the political responsibility for the correct examination of the commercial bank owners' cooperative. He himself justified the resignation with a forbidden acceptance of gifts on the part of SV Mattersburg in 2016. Illedits had been chairman of the supervisory board of the SV Mattersburg football academy, deputy chairman was Martin Pucher. Shortly after Illedits' resignation, allegations were raised that a large sum had been cleared from the accounts of Regional Management Burgenland (a subsidiary of the state) immediately before the bank closed. Governor Doskozil first denied the solution, but then admitted that there had been an attempt by the managing director of regional management. According to rumors about the imminent closure, five to ten million euros flowed out of the bank's future insolvency assets, but not through withdrawals from the country.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b query for bank code 19620. In: SEPA payment transactions directory of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) . (Requires browser reloading.)
  2. ↑ red, burgenl, .ORF.at: Commerzialbank: Help for employees. August 12, 2020, accessed August 19, 2020 .
  3. ↑ https://www.fondsprofessionell.at/news/unternehmen/headline/mega-bilanz-skandal-fma-stell-commerzialbank-mattersburg-ein-199234/ , accessed on July 17, 2020
  4. ↑ https://www.firmenabc.at/commerzialbank-mattersburg-im-burgenland-aktiengesellschaft_HMK , accessed on July 17, 2020
  5. ↑ Research in the historical commercial register entry for No. 124093s, available for a fee at https://firmenbuch.at/
  6. ↑ a b c d Balancing the balance sheet in the commercial bank began decades ago. In: derStandard.at. August 3, 2020, accessed August 4, 2020 .
  7. ↑ BVZ of July 16, 2020: Mattersburg-Bank before liquidation , (accessed on July 17, 2020)
  8. ↑ a b The structure of the commercial bank. In: burgenland.orf.at. July 17, 2020, accessed July 18, 2020 .
  9. ↑ a b Control body: The supervisory boards of the Commerzialbank. In: burgenland.orf.at. July 24, 2020, accessed July 24, 2020 .
  10. ↑ FMA sends Commerzialbank bankrupt. In: burgenland.orf.at. July 27, 2020, accessed July 27, 2020 .
  11. ↑ Mattersburg Bank: Damage rises to 690 million. In: diepresse.com. August 3, 2020, accessed August 4, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Mattersburg Bank de facto bankrupt 20 years ago. In: orf.at. August 8, 2020, accessed August 8, 2020 .
  13. ↑ a b c d How the Commerzialbank Mattersburg is supposed to have built castles in the air - derStandard.at. In: derStandard.at. July 17, 2020, accessed July 18, 2020 .
  14. ↑ a b c Martin Pucher and the Mattersburg files. In: profil.at. July 25, 2020, accessed July 27, 2020 .
  15. ↑ a b FMA blocks commercial bank: Pucher resigned. ORF Burgenland, 15./16. July 2020.
  16. ^ A b Commerzialbank Mattersburg: Major customers fear for deposits . In: news.ORF.at . July 16, 2020 ( orf.at [accessed July 18, 2020]).
  17. ↑ Commerzialbank: Klikovits also admits. In: burgenland.orf.at. August 24, 2020, accessed on August 24, 2020 .
  18. ^ Commerzialbank: allegations against entrepreneurs. In: burgenland.orf.at. August 21, 2020, accessed on August 24, 2020 .
  19. ↑ a b Mattersburg: First the balance sheet was tweaked, now the customers are shaved - derStandard.at. In: derStandard.at. July 17, 2020, accessed July 18, 2020 .
  20. ↑ Ailing Commerzialbank: Exam raises questions. In: krone.at. July 23, 2020, accessed July 24, 2020 .
  21. ↑ Commerzialbank: “30-year pyramid game”. In: burgenland.orf.at. August 22, 2020, accessed on August 22, 2020 .
  22. ↑ Bundesliga: Mattersburg finally throws in the towel. In: sport.orf.at. August 5, 2020, accessed August 5, 2020 .
  23. ↑ Commerzialbank Mattersburg - Land supports those affected with extensive measures. Province of Burgenland, July 15, 2020.
  24. ↑ Banking scandal in Burgenland: Commerzialbank Mattersburg: Customers should get a replacement account. In: handelsblatt.com. July 20, 2020, accessed July 20, 2020 .
  25. ↑ Commerzialbank: Province of Burgenland announces official liability suit. In: vol.at. July 24, 2020, accessed July 24, 2020 .
  26. ↑ Burgenland and its banking problem. In: diepresse.com. July 16, 2020, accessed July 18, 2020 .
  27. ↑ Doskozil confirms: Transfer attempt by RMB boss. In: orf.at. August 3, 2020, accessed August 4, 2020 .

Coordinates: 47 ° 44 ′ 17.7 "  N , 16 ° 23 ′ 58.7"  E