State bank of the GDR
| Headquarters | East Berlin |
| founding | 1st January 1968 |
| Dissolution / merger | 1990 |
| president |
Margarete Wittkowski (1967–1974) Horst Kaminsky (1974–1990) |
| country |
 German Democratic Republic
|
| currency | |
| ISO 4217 | DDM |
| predecessor |
German Central Bank (1945–1967) |
| successor |
Staatsbank Berlin (1990–1994), Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW, from 1994) |
| List of central banks | |
The State Bank of the GDR was the central bank of the German Democratic Republic . It emerged on January 1, 1968 by renaming it from the German Central Bank and largely took on the same tasks. After German reunification , the bank was wound up by the Treuhandanstalt and parts of it were taken over by other banks (see also Deutsche Kreditbank ).
history
founding
The State Bank of the GDR was founded on January 1, 1968 as the direct successor to the German Central Bank. As an organ of the Council of Ministers, it was the central and issuing bank of the GDR with business operations.
The law on the State Bank of the GDR of December 1, 1967 formed the legal basis Decisions of the Council of Ministers ”. At the same time as it was founded, the name of the currency of the GDR was changed to “Mark of the German Democratic Republic”.
On July 1, 1974, the state bank took over the tasks of the industrial and commercial bank . This made it necessary to expand business operations for the purpose of financing (account management) and financial control of all economic sectors and trade with the exception of agriculture, forestry and the food industry. Tasks in the area of securities and custody business and travel payments were also added.
Settlement after the Peaceful Revolution
Even before reunification, the subsidiary Deutsche Kreditbank was founded together with Deutsche Bank in March 1990 , the first private bank in the GDR. Deutsche Bank held 49% of the shares in the newly founded company. The state bank brought in 100 branches from its existing business.
On July 1, 1990, in accordance with the State Treaty with the Federal Republic of Germany, which stated that the Deutsche Bundesbank would take over the central bank function for the area of the former GDR from the beginning of monetary union, the processing tasks were transferred to the Staatsbank Berlin . The own funds of the State Bank of the GDR as of June 30, 1990 amounted to 1,866 million M / GDR, of which 250 million M / GDR capital and 1,616 million M / GDR reserve funds.
The remaining branches of the Staatsbank, along with real estate, were sold to West German banks by the Treuhandanstalt . The assets and business of the Staatsbank Berlin itself were finally transferred to the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau in 1994 .
tasks
The tasks of the State Bank of the GDR included a. Responsibility for payment transactions and the control of the circulation of money within the GDR, as well as payment transactions abroad. The bank also managed, bought and sold securities , precious metals and the like. The state bank was also responsible for the account management of the state institutions and the state-owned enterprises . In addition, the state bank handled the currency and currency transactions for citizens, institutions and businesses.
Citizens of the GDR who owned DM sorts (or other freely convertible Western currencies, generally referred to as " Valuta " in the GDR ) were able to set up a "Valuta entitlement account " at the State Bank of the GDR . This account was set up with 2.5% p. a. interest-bearing. From 1990 there was also a variant with a one-year notice period (interest rate 4.0% p. A.). Until the end of 1989, the accounts were kept in GDR marks . In principle, disposals were only possible in the form of forum checks and GDR marks. However, 15.00 DM (or the equivalent in other western currencies) per day could be disposed of in cash for approved trips to western countries. Orders for goods were also possible via GENEX Giftedienst GmbH . For this purpose, the GENEX catalog was borrowed at short notice against proof. In this way it was possible for the GDR citizens to have practically unlimited access to this currency. From July 1, 1990, the accounts were kept in Deutsche Mark without the aforementioned restrictions (see also Monetary, Economic and Social Union ).
Citizens of the Federal Republic of Germany were able to keep foreign currency accounts in some branches of the state bank . These accounts were kept in Marks of the GDR. These accounts were used u. a. for the creation of the unused minimum exchange .
Her internal tasks also included granting loans to companies and institutions. In addition, there was at least one main branch in each of the 15 districts of the GDR. After 1990, it turned out to be problematic that the housing construction program of the GDR was financed through loans from the State Bank (so-called nominal loans that did not have to be serviced by interest and repayment and were secured on the balance sheet by state guarantees ) through the monetary union to real loans and now with interest and repayment had to be served: A fact that was not possible in the GDR era was that the apartment rents were (politically) frozen at the level of 1935 and did not allow real credit interest per se .
Institutional integration
What is remarkable is the special political dependency of the State Bank, enshrined in a law of December 19, 1974, according to which the President of the Bank was also a member of the Council of Ministers . The State Bank was an organ of the Council of Ministers of the GDR; the central bank chief was bound by instructions.
The State Bank of the GDR was also a member of the International Bank for Economic Cooperation (IBWZ) based in Moscow . Their means of payment were transfer rubles and gold reserves .
Presidents (including presidents of the predecessor Deutsche Zentralbank )
- Willy Huhn (1948–1950)
- Greta Kuckhoff (1950-1958)
- Martin Schmidt (1958–1961)
- Rolf Wetzel (1961–1964)
- Helmut Dietrich (1964–1967)
- Margarete Wittkowski (1967–1974)
- Horst Kaminsky (1974–1990)
State Bank Building
The listed neoclassical building from 1889 by the architect Ernst Ludwig Heim on today's Bebelplatz , where the State Bank resided, was the headquarters of the Dresdner Bank until 1945 . This had unsuccessfully tried to transfer it back and finally built its new representative office in the capital at Pariser Platz . A subsidiary of Commerzbank became the new owner of the area . Now it is the headquarters of Bankhaus Löbbecke - a subsidiary of MMWarburg & CO (Hamburg) and their capital city representative.
After 1990, the building temporarily served as the Berlin headquarters of Dresdner Bank, but also as a film set ( Lola runs ). From 2004, as part of the “OpernCarrée” real estate project, the hotelier Sir Rocco Forte converted it into the “ Hotel de Rome ” luxury hotel , as part of the hotel chain The Rocco Forte Collection . The house opened on October 12, 2006.
Web links
- Concise dictionary of economics (HdWW) p. 195f. (Volume 3, 1981)
Individual evidence
- ^ Federal Archives State Bank of the GDR Sign. DN 10
- ↑ One step further , DER SPIEGEL 17/1990.
- ^ Federal Archives State Bank of the GDR Sign. DN 10
- ↑ Law on the Staatsbank Berlin (SBkBG) Date of issue: June 29, 1990
- ↑ German Bundestag Printed Matter 12/4437 of 1 March 1993
- ↑ KredAnstWiAÜV Ordinance on the transfer of the assets of the Staatsbank Berlin to the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, date of issue: September 13, 1994
- ↑ Law on the State Bank of the German Democratic Republic, Section 12, Paragraph 2 , of December 19, 1974