Landesbank

In German-speaking jurisdictions, Landesbank (plural Landesbanken), lit. 'bank of the Land', refers to a category of public sector banks that are owned by one or more of the Länder (federated internally self-governing states). Institutions of this type exist in most German states, as well as Austria and Switzerland.

Austria-Hungary

In the Austro-Hungarian Empire under the rule of the Habsburg monarchy, Landesbanken were government-sponsored banks established in some of the kingdoms and lands of the crown:[1]

By contrast, Vienna's Länderbank (est. 1880) and its short-lived affiliate the Ungarische Landesbank (1881-1887) were private-sector initiatives. The name Landesbank also survives in regional entities of the cooperative Raiffeisen Group in Austria and, similarly, the Raiffeisen Landesbank Südtirol – Cassa Centrale Raiffeisen dell'Alto Adige in the Italian region of South Tyrol.

• Landesbank des Königreichs Galizien und Lodomerien mit dem Grossherzogtum Krakau, est. 1883 in Lemberg (now Lviv) for the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria and the Grand Duchy of Kraków
• Landesbank des Königreiches Böhmen, est. 1890 in Prague for the Kingdom of Bohemia
• Landesbank für Bosnien und Herzegowina, est. 1895 in Sarajevo for Bosnia and Herzegovina under Austro-Hungarian rule
• Bukowinaer Landesbank, est. 1905 in Czernowitz (now Chernivtsi) for the Duchy of Bukovina
• Kroatische Landesbank, est. 1909 in Esseg (now Osijek) for the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia
• Krainische Landesbank, est. 1912 in Laibach (now Ljubljana) for the Duchy of Carniola

Germany

The current Landesbanken are part of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe, one of the three pillars of Germany's banking system. Their business is predominantly wholesale banking, partly to serve local savings banks. With a few exceptions, Landesbanken and Sparkassen are chartered by national and state banking laws to pursue a public purpose .[3] As of late 2022, they are:

• Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) in Stuttgart, covering Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Saxony
• Bayerische Landesbank (BayernLB) in Munich, covering Bavaria
• Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen (Helaba) in Frankfurt and Erfurt, covering Brandenburg, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Thuringia
• Norddeutsche Landesbank (NORD/LB) in Hanover, covering Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony-Anhalt, and Schleswig-Holstein
• Landesbank Saar (SaarLB) in Saarbrücken, covering Saarland

Liechtenstein

The German name of the National Bank of Liechtenstein is Liechtensteinische Landesbank AG.

See also

• Cantonal banks, the Swiss equivalent of Landesbanken
• Bank of North Dakota
• Puerto Rico Government Development Bank

External links

• http://www.faz.net (Bilanzsummen minus 1.809.100.000.000 Euro) (Stand September 2010) (Schuldenbremse Grundgesetz)