Cooperative banks: How the Volksbanken want to prevent scandals in the future

February 25, 2025, 4:50 p.m.

Reading time: 2 minutes

A branch of Volksbank Düsseldorf Neuss, one of the three banks that had to apply for aid from the joint security institution. (Photo: Maja Hitij/dpa)

Dubious customers, risky investments: Three cooperative banks needed help from their protection institution in 2024. That is about to change.

By Meike Schreiber , Frankfurt

Loans in the red light district, fraud by an influencer and loss-making real estate speculation - 2024 was a year as expensive as it was full of dazzling scandals for the Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken. Three cooperative banks had to apply for financial aid or guarantees from the joint security institution: the VR-Bank Bad Salzungen Schmalkalden (also known as the "Effenberg Bank"), the Volksbank Dortmund-Nordwest and the Volksbank Düsseldorf Neuss. If you add to this the difficulties of the Munich-based agricultural trader Baywa, it is not surprising that Cornelius Riese, head of the DZ Bank, spoke of a "complicated year" when he presented the annual balance sheet of the "Volksbanken-Zentralbank" in Frankfurt on Tuesday.

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