Raiffeisen cooperatives in Austria
There are around 1,600 autonomous Raiffeisen cooperatives in Austria , of which 490 are Raiffeisen banks with a total of 1,646 bank branches, 99 warehouse cooperatives , 94 dairies and other milk processing cooperatives and around 830 other cooperatives .
In order to survive in the market against the centrally organized competitors, supra-regional cooperation between the individual cooperatives is necessary. The market strength of the small regional cooperatives is supported by largely uniform statutes, area protection agreements, regional and pan-Austrian central institutions, auditing institutions, solidarity agreements, extensive corporate identity and other institutions for cooperation. The Austrian Raiffeisen Association and the Raiffeisen associations of the individual federal states are responsible for auditing, providing legal and tax advice as well as representing and advising the interests of the Raiffeisen cooperatives in Austria .
Since the autonomous Raiffeisen banks all use the same logo and mostly offer the same products - similar to the principle of franchising - the entirety of all Raiffeisen banks seems deceptively to many as a group .
history
The cooperative idea emerged mainly in Great Britain and Germany in the 19th century. Today there are around 900,000 cooperatives in over 100 countries worldwide. One of the main cooperative pioneers was Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen . In the last decades of the 19th century his ideas were also taken up in Austria. By the end of the century, the number of savings and loan funds working according to the Raiffeisen system had risen to around 600.
The first Raiffeisen bank in what is now Austria was established in 1886 in Mühldorf near Spitz in the Wachau in Lower Austria . In 1898 the Austrian Raiffeisen Association was founded. Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG was founded in 1927 .
From around 1960, especially with the increase in mass banking, the Austrian Raiffeisen banks achieved a very successful business development and continuous dynamic growth. They went from being a small rural competitor in the banking business to being an important factor in Austrian banking. The other Raiffeisen cooperatives also held their own very well despite considerable structural changes in their market areas.
With over 50,000 employees, the Austrian Raiffeisen Group is Austria's largest private employer. The Austrian Raiffeisen cooperatives have around 2 million members.
Today there are Raiffeisen cooperatives in 41 countries around the world that belong to the International Raiffeisen Union. There are contacts between the Austrian and foreign Raiffeisen cooperatives, but currently no economic ties or investments.
logo
The black gable cross made of horse heads on a yellow background is the logo of the Austrian Raiffeisen banks. It is one of the most famous Austrian brands. The awareness of the Raiffeisen brand was increased through advertising with successful athletes such as Niki Lauda , Gerhard Berger , Thomas Muster , Hermann Maier , Markus Rogan , Armin Assinger , Kathrin Zettel and Marcel Hirscher and at times also Anna Fenninger as testimonials . Raiffeisen Austria is also a sponsor of the Austrian national soccer team.
organization
The Austrian Raiffeisen cooperatives are organized on a decentralized basis, which means that the main economic and business policy decisions are not made by a central group head, but in the individual local cooperatives. This includes, among other things, the choice of local owner representatives, personnel policy, conditions policy, corporate planning, decisions on granting loans and so on. This has many advantages over real corporations, such as proximity to customers, good knowledge of the regional market and the strong identification of the local management with the individual cooperative company.
structure
Structure of the Raiffeisen Group Austria:
Raiffeisen banking group
The Raiffeisen banking group is the larger of the two Austrian banking groups in the area of cooperative banks . She is a three-tiered and consists of approximately 490 independent local Raiffeisen banks (first stage), the nine Raiffeisenlandesbanken including Zveza Bank (2nd stage), and the central institution of the Banking Group, the Raiffeisen Zentralbank Austria (RZB), which in turn numerous, also has foreign subsidiaries. The individual cooperatives are members of the Austrian Raiffeisen Association .
Warehouse group
Also members of the Austrian Raiffeisen Association are around 97 warehouse cooperatives that work together nationally in RWA Raiffeisen Ware Austria , and with the goods associations and the goods departments of the regional associations.
Dairy group
In the last few decades, many regional dairy cooperatives have joined forces to form large dairies, such as Berglandmilch (Schärdinger) , Tirolmilch , Niederösterreichische Molkerei (NÖM) or Gmundner Molkerei . As a result, the number of cooperative dairies has dropped to 15. The umbrella organization is the Association of Austrian Milk Processors (VöM)
Other cooperatives
The Raiffeisen Group also includes around 800 other cooperatives.
Auditing Associations
In all federal states there is a Raiffeisen association whose most important tasks are cooperative auditing, legal and tax advice and representing the interests of all Raiffeisen cooperatives. In addition, there is the Austrian Raiffeisen Association , which is responsible for auditing and advising the regional Raiffeisen banks and large cooperatives. Its elected chairman is the Advocate General of the Raiffeisen Group. This function is currently performed by Walter Rothensteiner .
- Austrian Raiffeisen Association
- Raiffeisenlandesbank Burgenland
- Raiffeisenlandesbank Carinthia
- Raiffeisen Association Lower Austria-Vienna
- Raiffeisen Association of Upper Austria
- Raiffeisen Association Salzburg
- Raiffeisen Association of Styria
- Raiffeisen Association Tyrol
- Raiffeisenlandesbank Vorarlberg
literature
- Ernst Bruckmüller , Wolfgang Werner (Ed.): Raiffeisen in Austria. Triumphant advance of an idea. St. Pölten 1998.
- Lutz Holzinger , Clemens Staudinger: Black Book Raiffeisen. Vienna 2013
- Wolf Müller-Scholz, Martin Stadlmann: The attacker, Raiffeisen on the rise. Profile Publishing, May 2004
- Wolfgang Werner: On the prehistory of the Austrian Raiffeisen movement. Frankfurt 1993
- Wolfgang Werner: On the road to success - on the history of the Austrian Raiffeisen movement from small towns to internationally active networks. Rainer Hampp Verlag 2005
- Andreas Zakostelsky, Friedrich Hagspiel (eds.): White paper association. Overview of the network structures at European cooperative banks. Vienna 1999
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Raiffeisenverband: Structure. (No longer available online.) Austrian Raiffeisen Association, archived from the original on February 25, 2014 ; Retrieved April 21, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
