The Sparkasse zu Lübeck AG, based in

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

, is one of five free public

savings banks A savings bank is a financial institution that is not run on a profit-maximizing basis, and whose original or primary purpose is collecting deposits on savings accounts that are invested on a low-risk basis and receive interest. Savings banks ha ...

that still exist in

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 ...

Organizational structure

The Sparkasse zu Lübeck AG has been registered in the commercial register since 1 November 2004 as a

stock corporation A joint-stock company (JSC) is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareholder ...

. The legal basis for the bank is essentially the '' Kreditwesengesetz'' (KWG) and the ''Sparkassengesetz'' for

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

. The bodies of the savings bank are the

Annual General Meeting An annual general meeting (AGM, also known as the annual meeting) is a meeting of the general membership of an organization. These organizations include membership associations and companies with shareholders. These meetings may be required ...

, the Supervisory Board and the

Management Board Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administr ...

History

The savings bank was founded in 1817 under the name "Spar- und Anleih-Kasse" as a dependent '' Gesellschaft zur Beförderung gemeinnütziger Tätigkeit'' (institution of the society for the promotion of charitable activity). The first business day was June 12, 1817. It was held in the now-defunct orphanage near the

Lübeck Cathedral Lübeck Cathedral (, or colloquially ''Lübecker Dom'') is a large brick-built Lutheran cathedral in Lübeck, Germany, and part of the Lübeck World Heritage Site. It was started in 1173 by Henry the Lion as a cathedral for the Bishop of Lübeck ...

. The core task of the new bank was to give the city, which was devastated by the

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

ic occupation and the following wars of liberation, and its inhabitants an opportunity "to secure the return on their savings or their purchases safely and affordably", thus at the same time to act as a capital collection point. The deposits were lent mostly as

mortgage loan A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law (legal system), civil law jurisdictions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners t ...

s. As a result of the recently introduced ''

Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch The ''Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch'' (, ), abbreviated BGB, is the civil code of Germany, codifying most generally-applicably private law. In development since 1881, it became effective on 1 January 1900, and was considered a massive and groundbr ...

'' (Civil Code), the savings bank obtained in 1905 legal independence in the legal form of a foundation. As early as 1825, the savings bank moved from the orphanage to a new premise at Breite Straße 16. In 1912, the bank moved into the newly built commercial building Breite Straße 18 next-door. At this point, in the 1965 built house, the seat of the ''Sparkasse'' is still today. In 1937 the Sparkasse zu Lübeck, which at that time still carried the name ''Spar- und Anleihe-Kasse zu Lübeck '', took over the Sparkasse in

Travemünde Travemünde () is a borough of Lübeck, Germany, located at the mouth of the river Trave in Bay of Lübeck, Lübeck Bay. It began life as a fortress built by Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, in the 12th century to guard the mouth of the Trave, an ...

. The name ''Sparkasse zu Lübeck'' was adopted by the bank in 1958. In 2004, the bank's banking operations were spun off the foundation and transferred to a public limited company, today's Sparkasse zu Lübeck AG. The foundation that had once supported the ''Sparkasse'' became a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

, the ''Gemeinnützige Sparkassenstiftung zu Lübeck'', holding the majority in the Sparkasse zu Lübeck AG with 74%. From its

interest In finance and economics, interest is payment from a debtor or deposit-taking financial institution to a lender or depositor of an amount above repayment of the principal sum (that is, the amount borrowed), at a particular rate. It is distinct f ...

and

dividend A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders, after which the stock exchange decreases the price of the stock by the dividend to remove volatility. The market has no control over the stock price on open on the ex ...

s, the foundation supports charitable and benevolent projects in Lübeck with millions each year. The remaining shares are held by Haspa Finanzholding in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Business focus

The Sparkasse zu Lübeck AG operates in its business area as a savings bank in the

universal bank A universal bank is a type of bank which participates in many kinds of banking activities and is both a commercial bank and an investment bank as well as providing other financial services such as insurance. These are also called full-service ...

ing business. Among others, it cooperates with ''LBS Bausparkasse Schleswig-Holstein-Hamburg AG'', ''Provinzial NordWest'', insurer ''neue leben'' in Hamburg, ''

HSH Nordbank Hamburg Commercial Bank (formerly HSH Nordbank) is a commercial bank in northern Europe with headquarters in Hamburg as well as Kiel, Germany. It is active in corporate and private banking. Considered to be the world’s largest provider of maritim ...

'', ''LGS Leasinggesellschaft

Deutsche Leasing Deutsche Leasing AG (DL) is a manufacturer-independent leasing company in Germany. Since 1987, the company has had its headquarters in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe and is the main leasing partner for the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe. Shares are held by a ...

AG'' and '' DekaBank''. Not infrequently, the Sparkasse zu Lübeck was a pioneer in the introduction of new products. In 1985, for example, the Sparkasse zu Lübeck was the first savings bank in Schleswig-Holstein to issue listed

bearer bond A bearer bond or bearer note is a bond or debt security issued by a government or a business entity such as a corporation. As a bearer instrument, it differs from the more common types of investment securities in that it is unregistered—no ...

s and, since 2004, the first savings bank in the federal territory to issue

debenture In corporate finance, a debenture is a medium- to long-term debt instrument used by large companies to borrow money, at a fixed rate of interest. The legal term "debenture" originally referred to a document that either creates a debt or acknowle ...

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Banks of Germany German companies established in 1817 Banks established in 1817 Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe