Founded in 1922, Bank Gutmann AG, a private bank based in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Schwarzenbergplatz Schwarzenbergplatz is a square in Vienna, Austria. It is closer to a small, open street rather than a square. It runs between the Kärntner Ring section of the Ringstraße and Lothringerstraße. Travelling south, the street, Schwarzenbergstraße ...

, specializes in

asset management Asset management is a systematic approach to the governance and realization of all value for which a group or entity is responsible. It may apply both to tangible assets (physical objects such as complex process or manufacturing plants, infrastr ...

and is the market leader in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. The

private bank Private banks are banks owned by either the individual or a general partner(s) with limited partner(s). Private banks are not incorporated. In any such case, creditors can look to both the "entirety of the bank's assets" as well as the entire ...

is 80 percent owned by the Kahane family and 20 percent by executive and non-executive partners. Gutmann currently manages client assets of €20.5 billion (as of 2019). Clients include domestic and foreign entrepreneurs as well as entrepreneurial families, foundations, wealthy private clients and institutional investors.

History

Founded in 1922, Bank Gutmann was active in all areas of the banking business at the time, with the exception of accepting savings deposits and issuing bonds and mortgage bonds. Its clientele included the most important companies in the Gutmann Group as well as a number of companies not belonging to the Gutmann Group. Bank Gutmann managed the finances for the companies of the Gutmann Group, but did not hold any shares in them. The Gutmann Group was hit hard by the global

economic crisis A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and ma ...

in the 1930s. After the

National Socialists Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

seized power in 1938, the assets of the Gutmann family were " aryanised". In this context, the liquidation of Bank Gutmann was initiated, but not completed until the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1947, the Gutmann family successfully applied to the Austrian Ministry of Finance for the liquidation to be terminated and for the bank license to be revived. However, Bank Gutmann did not subsequently develop any activities other than the payment of pensions for former employees. In 1957, Karl Kahane acquired the bank from the Gutmanns and began to rebuild the banking business. Initially, the focus was on

foreign exchange The foreign exchange market (forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. By trading volume, it i ...

transactions for leading Austrian companies. After the expansion of further business areas, Bank Gutmann was converted into a

public limited company A public limited company (legally abbreviated to PLC or plc) is a type of public company under United Kingdom company law, some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth jurisdictions, and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is a limited liability co ...

in 1971. In the 1980s, Bank Gutmann placed bonds of the Republic of Austria and state-owned utilities and road construction companies with the country's leading insurance institutions. Bank Gutmann was also involved in the establishment of external pension funds in the 2000s as an investor and consultant.

Business area

Bank Gutmann has specialized in asset management and investment consulting since the 1980s. Gutmann's clients include domestic and foreign entrepreneurs, foundations, wealthy private clients and families as well as institutional investors. In addition to asset management and investment advice for private clients, Gutmann's area of activity also includes institutional clients. Over the years, private equity and real estate have also developed into specific areas of expertise. In addition to its core business in Austria, Bank Gutmann serves clients from Central and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

. The bank has its own local branches in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

(

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

) and the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

(

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

Teaching and research

The "WU Gutmann Center for Portfolio Management" was founded in 2001.

The Gutmann Kapitalanlageaktiengesellschaft KAG

''Gutmann Kapitalanlageaktiengesellschaft'' is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank Gutmann AG and currently manages around 130 investment funds with a total volume of around €20.5 billion (as of 2019).

External links

Official Website

References

Banks of Austria Companies based in Vienna Mortgage lenders Banks established in 1922 Austrian companies established in 1922 {{Austria-company-stub