HVB Group History

Company Perspectives:

HVB Group has positioned itself with a distinctive profile in the market for financial services. We offer our customers in all business segments excellent, innovative, rapid solutions, thus making our customers the focus of our operations. As the Bank in the Heart of Europe we focus on European retail and corporate customer business in the closely interconnected economic area of Germany, Austria & Central and Eastern Europe where we have established ourselves as Number One. This customer-focused market approach combined with short local decision paths enables us to accommodate the different requirements of our customers, thus achieving a high degree of identification on the part of our customers with "their" bank.

Key Dates:

1835:

Bayerische Hypotheken- und Wechsel-Bank AG (Hypo-Bank) is founded in Munich by decree of King Ludwig I of Bavaria.

1869:

King Ludwig II of Bavaria grants a license to a consortium of private bankers to establish a Munich-based commercial bank, Bayerische Vereinsbank A.G. (BV).

1879:

Hypo-Bank begins underwriting and securities trading.

1906:

New regulatory laws force Hypo-Bank to spin off its insurance operations, creating the separate but wholly owned Bayerische Versicherungsbank AG.

Early 1920s:BV allies itself with Bayerische Handelsbank AG.

1921:

Hypo-Bank enters into community of interest agreement with Barmer Bankverein and Allgemeine Deutsche Creditanstalt of Leipzig.

1922:

BV enters into community of interest agreement with Mendelssohn & Company.

1923:

Hypo-Bank sells its share in insurance subsidiary Bayerische Versicherungsbank.

1970:

BV opens its first foreign representative offices in Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro.

1971:

Bayerische Staatsbank AG, Bavaria's third largest bank, is acquired by BV.

1990:

BV gains majority control of Hamburg-based Vereins- und Westbank AG.

1992:

Majority stake in Schoeller & Co. Bank AG, an Austrian private bank, is secured by BV.

1994:

Hypo-Bank launches Direkt Anlage Bank, the first discount telephone brokerage service in Germany.

1997:

BV and Hypo-Bank announce that they will merge.

1998:

Merger is consummated, creating Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank AG, or HypoVereinsbank.

2000:

Bank Austria Creditanstalt is acquired.

2002:

HypoVereinsbank changes its name to HVB Group; records a net loss for the year; announces commercial real estate finance operations will be spun off as Hypo Real Estate Group.

2003:

About one-quarter of Bank Austria Creditanstalt is sold through an initial public offering.

Company History:

Further Reading:

• "A Bavarian Botch-up," Economist, August 5, 2000, pp. 65-66.
• "Bayerische Vereinsbank to Expand Its European Bank-Branch Network," Wall Street Journal, February 17, 1989.
• "Beancounted Out," Economist, October 30, 1999, pp. 86-87.
• "Built in Bavaria," Economist, July 26, 1997, p. 67.
• Covill, Laura, "Bavarian Slow-Step," Euromoney, November 1997, p. 48.
• Delamaide, Darrell, "Vereinsbank Starts to Drop Its Bayerische Label," Euromoney, January 1994, pp. 90-91.
• Ewing, Jack, "Anatomy of a Tainted Merger," Business Week, April 12, 1999, pp. 54, 56.
• Fairlamb, David, "Down for the Count: Will Bad Debt Crush Banking Giant HVB?," Business Week, January 20, 2003, p. 42.
• Fisher, Andrew, "German Bank Shakes Off Attitudes of Old: Bayerische Vereinsbank Has Invested Heavily in New Technology," Financial Times, July 19, 1995, p. 20.
• ------, "German Banks Hope to Shake Off the Chill," Financial Times, December 20, 1994, p. 23.
• A History of the Bayerische Hypotheken- und Wechsel-Bank, 1835-1985, Munich: Bayerische Hypotheken- und Wechsel-Bank, 1985.
• "HVB Group to Restructure, Dispose of Eu100bn in Risk Assets," Euroweek, January 31, 2003, p. 8.
• Morris, Jennifer, "The Grossbanken Have Nowhere Left to Hide," Euromoney, February 2002, pp. 52-57.
• Rhoads, Christopher, "Bank Deal in Germany Is Nightmare," Wall Street Journal, May 6, 1999.
• Roth, Terence, "West German Bank Plots Strategy for '90s," Wall Street Journal, August 14, 1989.
• "Running Repairs," Economist, July 12, 2003, pp. 67-68.
• Sesit, Michael, Greg Steinmetz, and Silvia Ascarelli, "Vereinsbank, Hypobank Set to Merge," Wall Street Journal, July 21, 1997, p. A3.
• Shirreff, David, "Slugfest in Bavaria," Euromoney, December 1999, p. 87.
• Siconolfi, Michael, "German Bank's Purchase of Oppenheimer Hits Unexpected Regulatory Roadblock," Wall Street Journal, December 14, 1995, p. C1.
• Simonian, Haig, "BV Steps Forward in Modest Style," Financial Times, October 13, 1989, p. 33.
• Walker, Marcus, "German Bank Focuses on the Unfashionable--Retail Accounts," Wall Street Journal, October 30, 2000, p. A26.
• ------, "No. 1 Bank in Austria Ties Knot: Germany's Hypo Forms Major Force in Central Europe," Wall Street Journal, July 24, 2000, p. A17.
• Whale, P. Barrett, Joint Stock Banking in Germany, London: Fred Cass & Company, 1930.

Source: International Directory of Company Histories, Vol.59. St. James Press, 2004.