Sparkasse Hanseatic City of Stralsund

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The Sparkasse Hansestadt Stralsund ( SHS ), formerly Sparkasse Stralsund , was a savings bank based in the Hanseatic city of Stralsund . On January 1, 2005, it merged with Sparkasse Vorpommern . The savings bank became public when it was about to be sold to private investors.

history

The Sparkasse Stralsund was reopened on August 13, 1945 in the Alter Markt 8 building. The Lord Mayor Otto Kortüm decreed on August 7, 1945:

“The Sparkasse only accepts deposits into savings accounts and pays interest on deposits with legal notice of 2.5 percent p. a. Savers can dispose of their deposits of up to RM  1000 per calendar month without giving notice on presentation of the savings books. "

In 2002 the Sparkasse had a market share of 65 percent with 32,000 current accounts, the balance sheet total was 550 million euros , and 160 people were employed. Among the 519 German savings banks, the Stralsund Institute took 424th place in terms of total assets.

The Sparkasse's head office was in a building on the Neuer Markt in Stralsund . Bank code was 130 510 52.

Sales plans

The Lord Mayor of Stralsund, Harald Lastovka (CDU), who was ex officio Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Sparkasse, had strongly advocated a sale, as the sale should bring in up to 50 million euros in the city treasury. According to the savings bank law of the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the sale of a savings bank to a private investor is excluded. The plan was therefore to sell only the assets including the banking business; the remaining "empty shell" should be dissolved after the sale. According to a consulting law firm, this legal loophole existed.

In December 2003, the Ministry of Finance of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania overturned a decision by the administrative board of Sparkasse Stralsund, according to which the sale of the public credit institution should be examined. The CDU parliamentary group in the Stralsund citizenship criticized the order as a "serious interference with local self-government". The citizens of the Hanseatic city decided on December 11, 2003 with 27 to 10 votes in favor of the "application according to Paragraf 22 Municipal Constitution MV", according to which it should be examined "to sell the Sparkasse Hansestadt Stralsund (SHS) to an investor and the proceeds for one to use for charitable purpose. Various options for the sale are to be considered, in particular a merger in return for value adjustment with another public-law credit institution and the sale of all or significant assets of SHS to another purchaser. " On December 18, 2003, the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Ministry of the Interior suspended the decision for the time being. The Administrative Court Greifswald rejected an urgent application from end of February 2004, which was to prevent the city of Stralsund on the search for investors until the decision on the admissibility of a citizens' initiative had fallen.

A collection of signatures against the sale of the Sparkasse, initiated by the PDS parliamentary group of the Stralsund citizens, brought together 6952 signatures; 5000 were necessary for a referendum. In March 2004 the SPD parliamentary group of the Stralsund citizens, which had previously advocated the sale, voted together with the CDU to discontinue the test procedure for sale. The motion was accepted with one vote against. At the beginning of March 2004, the state parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania passed the amended Savings Bank Act, which leaves no scope for a savings bank sale, not even as part of the “asset deal”.

A sale of Sparkasse Stralsund could have broken the German three-pillar model. Commerzbank and the Swedish SEB , among others, were interested in the Sparkasse . Commerzbank boss Klaus-Peter Müller had confirmed the interest in the Stralsunder Sparkasse at the financial institution's press conference in mid-February 2004.

The President of the German District Assembly, Hans Jörg Duppré, welcomed the halt to the sales plans. The press spokesman for the Association of German Banks , Oliver Wolfrum, said, "Stralsund had initiated an important discussion about incrustations in the German banking system".

fusion

The East German Savings Banks and Giro Association favored a merger of the Stralsund Sparkasse with the neighboring Sparkasse Vorpommern. The merger with Sparkasse Vorpommern was completed on January 1, 2005.

Legal proceedings

The Sparkasse Hansestadt Stralsund terminated the employment relationship of the two board members Winfried Burke and Peter Stehr on November 27, 2003 without notice. At the end of December 2004, the Sparkasse gave a mandate to a Stralsund law firm in which the mayor's wife Harald Lastovka was involved. The subject of the mandate was proceedings against the two former board members. As part of the proceedings, the law firm asserted a claim for damages of 18,748,000 euros on behalf of the Sparkasse, which should have arisen from allegedly improperly granted loans and share transactions. The remuneration of the law firm should thus amount to around 150,000 euros.

In March 2005, the SPD member of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state parliament , Jörg Heydorn , submitted a small request to the state government relating to reports in the Ostsee-Zeitung . The newspaper had reported on the commissioning practice by the Sparkasse Stralsund to the law firm of the mayor's wife Harald Lastovka . The state's interior minister stated that “the state government (...) does not have detailed information on the awarding of contracts by the Sparkasse Stralsund, the Hanseatic city of Stralsund and companies in which the city of Stralsund is involved to the law firm of the wife of the mayor of the Hanseatic city of Stralsund in front of (lying) ". The Ministry of the Interior asked Lastovka to comment, the Ministry of Finance called on the Sparkasse to “report comprehensively on the commissioning of the law firm of the mayor of the Hanseatic city of Stralsund”.

The Stralsund Regional Court ruled on August 15, 2007 that the terminations of the two board members by the Sparkasse are ineffective. The Sparkasse's counterclaim was rejected by the regional court because the Sparkasse was not properly represented by the Board of Directors and there was no proper power of attorney; liability was denied because "the Sparkasse had already granted discharge to the plaintiffs (...) in the past". The Sparkasse appealed against the judgment, which was rejected by the Rostock Higher Regional Court.

The former CEO of the Sparkasse, Winfried Burke, had to answer in court in December 2006 for allegations of irregularities in lending and breach of trust. The public prosecutor's office accused Burke of unfaithfulness because he is said to have granted Stralsund's Lord Mayor Harald Lastovka loans at unusual market conditions, thereby damaging the Sparkasse Stralsund. Burke was acquitted of the allegations made against Burke in a judgment of January 31, 2007 by the Stralsund AG (Az. 15 Cs 646/06). The state treasury bore the costs of the proceedings and the accused's necessary expenses. Lastovka was also investigated in this connection for almost two years; the proceedings were closed in June 2006.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ parow-info.de , document text 10, accessed on December 10, 2008
  2. ↑ welt.de , November 27, 2003, accessed December 10, 2008
  3. ↑ morgenpost.de , December 8, 2003, accessed December 10, 2008
  4. ↑ Worthless coat . In: Der Spiegel . No. 26 , 2000 ( online ).
  5. ↑ banktip.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. December 12, 2003, accessed December 10, 2008@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.banktip.de  
  6. ↑ gutfuerdeutschland.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) accessed on December 10, 2008@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.gutfuerdeutschland.de  
  7. ↑ handelsblatt.de accessed on December 10, 2008
  8. ↑ die-tagespost.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. February 26, 2004, accessed December 10, 2008@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.die-tagespost.de  
  9. ↑ a b bundestag.de ( Memento of the original from June 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) 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. , March 15, 2004, accessed December 10, 2008 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bundestag.de
  10. ↑ rp-online.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , March 4, 2004, accessed December 10, 2008@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.rp-online.de  
  11. ^ Wallstreet-online.de December 6, 2003, accessed December 10, 2008
  12. ↑ kreise.de (PDF) March 4, 2004, accessed December 10, 2008
  13. ↑ welt.de August 25, 2004, accessed December 10, 2008
  14. ↑ marktplatz-recht.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. June 7, 2008, accessed December 10, 2008@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.marktplatz-recht.de  
  15. ↑ a b Landtag Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, printed matter 4/1590 (PDF) March 24, 2005, accessed on December 10, 2008
  16. ↑ a b marktplatz-recht.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. June 7, 2008, accessed December 10, 2008@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.marktplatz-recht.de  
  17. ↑ ndr.de December 11, 2006, accessed on December 10, 2008  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www1.ndr.de  
  18. ↑ ndr.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. June 30, 2006, accessed December 10, 2008@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www1.ndr.de