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| Company type | Cooperative bank[1] |
|---|---|
| Industry | cooperative movement financial service activities, except insurance and pension funding  |
| Predecessor | Frankfurter Genossenschaftsbank |
| Founded | 1862[1] |
| Headquarters | Frankfurt,Germany[1] |
| Total assets | €12,111 million(2018)[2] |
| Members | 254,699(2018)[2] |
Number of employees | 1,658(2018)[2] |
| Website | www |
TheFrankfurter Volksbank eG is aCooperative bank and has its headquarters inFrankfurt amMain.[1] The bank's business area includes the city of Frankfurt and parts of the surrounding area.
The history of theFrankfurter Volksbank goes back to the year 1862. On 19 May 1862, theFrankfurter Gewerbekasse was founded by 81 well-known Frankfurt citizens. As early as the end of November 1862, a committee was set up to form a savings and advance bank.[3]
The first CEO was the Frankfurt banker Adolph Reinach (Chairman of the Board from 1862 to 1870). On 1 October 1862, the business was taken up in the house of the cashier, thecard deck manufacturer Caspar Ludwig Wüst, in Gallusstr. 15. On 11 November 1862, the senate of the free and imperial city of Frankfurt granted the bank the right as a legal entity.
The bank experienced a quick boom. To this the end of theguild restrictions in Frankfurt in January 1864 contributed which spurred the development of craftsmanship. In the first 5 years from 1862 to 1867 the number of members increased from 81 to 694, thebalance sheet total increased from 42,000 to almost 1 millionGuilders and 112,000 Guilders of savings had been raised. In addition, the company was profitable and paid adividend, which increased from 6% (1863) to 7% (1867). The company continued to grow in the following years, until it suffered a setback for the first time during thePanic of 1873. So the membership numbers increased from 1525 in 1872 to 2153 in 1875 to fall again in 1881 to 1863.
In 1868, the bank moved from the Hotel du Nord to a new premises atNeue Kornmarkt 18. In 1873 another move to theGroße Eschenheimer Gasse took place to the building ofLeopold Sonnemanns (a co-founder of the bank)Frankfurter Zeitung.
In 1878, the house on the corner ofBörsenstraße /Freßgass was acquired as the headquarters.[4]
Another factor that increased the attractiveness for members was the amendment of thePrussianCooperative Law of 1868. While all members so far in solidarity were liable with their own assets, thesolidarity liability was repealed on 20 February 1890. In the year 1914 one counted 3190 members and possessed over 3 millionMark worth of business shares. The annual dividends fluctuated between 5 and 8 percent.
Theinflation in the early 1920s also hit theGewerbekasse hard. Although the business achieved to increase the number of members in 1925 to 4203, the value of the shares fell to 187,510Rentenmark. That the bank survived this difficult time at all was also the result of the work of the chairman of the board, Wilhelm Keller, who ran the bank from 1913 to 1936. With interruption during theworld economic crisis, the 20s and 30s were also times of strong growth. In 1930 the balance sheet totaled 10.1 million Mark, in 1942 it was 16.24 million Mark.
In 1942, four cooperative banks in Frankfurt were forcibly merged intoFrankfurter Volksbank. In addition to theFrankfurter Gewerbekasse, these were theFrankfurter Genossenschaftsbank (founded in 1897), the name givingFrankfurter Volksbank (founded in 1908) and theBank für Handel und Gewerbe (founded in 1925).[5]
Together, the merged institution now had 4819 members and a balance sheet total of 47 millionMarks.
As a result of thecurrency reform, large parts of the capital were lost again. TheDeutsche Mark opening balance of 21 June 1948 showed that a balance sheet total of 76 millionReichsmark became 5 millionDeutsche Mark. Of these, 3.6 million compensation claims were against the public sector from the assets side. The bank had 4400 members. With theWirtschaftswunder, the bank again grew strongly in the following years. In 1961 it had 8082 members and 6.2 millionDeutsche Mark equity.
In 1970, other traditionalVolksbanks in the Frankfurt area were merged intoFrankfurter Volksbank. Those were theVolksbanken fromKronberg (founded 1862, 2,200 members, 45 Mio.Deutsche Mark total assets),Rödelheim (founded 1863) as well asBockenheim (34 Mio.Deutsche Mark total assets, founded 1863). The latter had already merged withVolksbank Eschborn (founded 1926) andVolksbank Niederrad (founded 1872) in 1955.
In subsequent years, a series of further mergers with otherVolksbanks took place.
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