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The members of Raiffeisenbank St. Wolfgang-Schwindkirchen agree to the merger with VR-Bank Erding.
St. Wolfgang – The general assembly of Raiffeisenbank St. Wolfgang-Schwindkirchen approved the merger with VR-Bank Erding. 86 percent of the participants voted for it in a secret, written vote. In his speech, board member Felix Lechner promoted the step, the planning of which has been known since the beginning of 2020. “We stand on thin ice. In the long run, a bank of our size will certainly not be able to survive in this environment, ”said Lechner to the members.
Succession plans are pending in both banks. The merger could save two board members. In the future, Josef Kern, Johann Luber and Lechner will form the board of the new bank. The other St. Wolfgang board member Reinhold Lindner will switch to the passive phase of partial retirement in 2022.
“The fact is that it will be more and more difficult for banks in the next few years,” said Lechner. The regulation is crushing the financial houses more and more. Almost three full-time employees are busy in his house with the reports to the supervision. “The whole internal reporting is not included there yet.”
In the lending business, Raiffeisenbank St. Wolfgang-Schwindkirchen is increasingly reaching its limits with corporate customers. “Whenever we cannot finance a corporate customer, we not only lose valuable business, but can no longer fulfill the actual purpose of our existence, namely to provide our customers and members with credit.”
The general meeting unanimously approved the actions of the board of directors and the supervisory board and resolved a dividend of four percent. All three supervisory boards were unanimously nominated for the supervisory board of the unified bank. Your election will only follow at the meeting of VR-Bank Erding. In addition, Franz Finger and Günther Drobilitsch were nominated for the election committee of the unified bank.
Lindner presented the 2020 annual financial statements. Accordingly, the balance sheet total grew by 7.8 percent to 249 million euros. The balance sheet profit shrank in the corona crisis year to just under 210,000 euros, after 245,000 euros in the previous year. At the end of the year, the total amount of client funds under management was 324 million euros. The loans granted totaled 179 million euros.
Raiffeisenbank St. Wolfgang-Schwindkirchen has 39 employees in its branches, including three trainees. The employees and the related operational safety are important reasons for the merger, explained Lechner. “Because of our size, we only have one person for many tasks who has the necessary specialist knowledge. If one of these people is absent, for example due to illness, we immediately have a huge problem. ”In addition, many long-term employees would retire in the next few years. “The shortage of skilled workers also has the banking industry firmly under control.”
The focus of the joint business area will then be the southern district of Erding. “In this constellation, Sankt Wolfgang can remain an important banking location,” explained Lechner. The Schwindkirchen office is of great strategic importance because it is located in the area of the city of Dorfen. This means that the merged bank has a location in both towns in the district.
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