Private company

Länderbank

Logo: Länderbank Österreich, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

Defunct large Austrian bank

The Länderbank, full original name k. k. privilegierte Österreichische Länderbank (lit. 'Imperial and Royal Privileged Austrian Bank of the Lands'), was a major Austrian bank, created in 1880. In 1922 its head office was moved to Paris under the name Banque des Pays de l'Europe Centrale (BPEC, German: Zentral-Europäische Länderbank, lit. 'Bank of the Central European Countries'), even though its activity remained overwhelmingly in the Austrian operations. After the 1938 Anschluss the latter came under control of Dresdner Bank by the name Länderbank Wien.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

1938Founded1
  • HeadquartersVienna1
  • Legal formAktiengesellschaft1

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Am Hof 2 Ansicht 1
Photo: Thomas Ledl, CC BY-SA 3.0 at, via Wikimedia Commons5

The Länderbank, full original name k. k. privilegierte Österreichische Länderbank (lit. 'Imperial and Royal Privileged Austrian Bank of the Lands'), was a major Austrian bank, created in 1880. In 1922 its head office was moved to Paris under the name Banque des Pays de l'Europe Centrale (BPEC, German: Zentral-Europäische Länderbank, lit. 'Bank of the Central European Countries'), even though its activity remained overwhelmingly in the Austrian operations. After the 1938 Anschluss the latter came under control of Dresdner Bank by the name Länderbank Wien. It was nationalized in 1946, renamed Österreichische Länderbank AG in 1948, and eventually merged in 1991 with Vienna's Zentralsparkasse to form Bank Austria, which in turn has been a subsidiary of UniCredit since 2005.2

Corporate structure

Länderbank sits at the top of its group. 2 entities, 1 country on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Built from subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0); major holders from Schedules 13D and 13G. Each entity in the chart links to its source.

Subsidiaries and ownership

Subsidiaries

From Wikidata.1

Acquisitions

  1. Succeeded by Bank Austria1

In 1991, after facing renewed financial difficulty, the Länderbank, by then Austria's fourth-largest financial institution, merged with Vienna's Zentralsparkasse und Kommerzialbank Wien (est. 1905, also known as Z-Bank) which at the time was both sounder and larger. In practice, that represented a takeover by the City of Vienna, led by Zentralsparkasse general manager René Alfons Haiden who subsequently chaired the merged entity, renamed Bank Austria, until 1995. Bank Austria was acquired by HypoVereinsbank in 2001, which in turn was purchased by UniCredit in 2005.

From Wikipedia’s article on Länderbank, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Timeline

  1. 1991Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1938Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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