Allgemeine Bodencreditanstalt

It was initially involved in mortgage credit, for which it became a dominant provider, and lending to industry and infrastructure projects such as railway construction.

Rudolf Sieghart [de], appointed the Bodencreditanstalt's Governor in 1910, adopted an aggressive stance of rapid expansion and head-on competition with the Rothschild-led Creditanstalt, particularly after the end of World War I.

The Bodencreditanstalt subsequently attempted to expand in Central Europe, but soon suffered from difficulties with some of its industrial borrowers, particularly Steyr-Werke [de].

Austrian Chancellor Johannes Schober intervened forcefully and persuaded Louis Nathaniel de Rothschild that Creditanstalt should purchase its troubled competitor, albeit at a heavily discounted stock price.

[4] It delayed writing off the bad loans inherited from the two banks it had acquired, but that lack of transparency only compounded the loss of confidence.