[6] The Creditanstalt's circumstances were dramatically affected by Austria-Hungary's defeat in the First World War, its subsequent dissolution, and the formation of the First Austrian Republic.

In 1920, its branch in Ljubljana was reorganized as a fully-fledged Yugoslav bank, the Credit Institute for Commerce and Industry (Slovene: Kreditni zavod za trgovino in industrijo.

In 1929, just at the time of Wall Street Crash and under pressure from the Austrian government led by Johann Schober, Creditanstalt purchased its distressed peer the Allgemeine Bodencreditanstalt, which itself was dragged down by its acquisition of Austria's Unionbank two years earlier.

[4][9] Burdened by the troubled legacy of its recent acquisitions, the Creditanstalt declared on 11 May 1931 that it was unable to publish its financial statements for 1930, immediately triggering panic.

[10]: 2–3 [11][12] Chancellor Otto Ender organized a rescue that entailed cost-sharing by the Austrian government, the Oesterreichische Nationalbank, and the Rothschild family, rejecting nationalization plans advocated by the Social Democratic Party.

[7]: 49  The Creditanstalt's bankruptcy and its impact in producing a global banking crisis provided a major propaganda opportunity for Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in which they further blamed the Jews for German and international economic and social troubles.

In late 1933, Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß ordered the Creditanstalt's merger with the Wiener Bankverein and the sound parts of the Niederösterreichische Escompte-Gesellschaft, as a consequence of which the bank became majority-owned by the government, while foreigners still held about 42 percent of the share capital.

Deprived of his position and property, he was released upon payment of $21,000,000, believed to have been the largest bail bond in history for any individual,[16] and migrated to the U.S. in 1939 after more than one year in custody.

[13]: 93 Even though Josef Joham [de], its former head and still board member during the war, made contact with the U.S. Office of Strategic Services, the Creditanstalt in that period settled the financial issues of several Nazi concentration camps as well as the Aryanization of Jewish-owned businesses, like the re-establishment of Sascha-Film as Wien-Film Limited.

[14]: 4  It became mainly a commercial bank and was involved in Austria's economy, holding stakes in important Austrian companies such as Wienerberger, Steyr-Daimler-Puch, Lenzing AG, and Semperit.

[18]: 238 The Creditanstalt-Bankverein dedicated a memorial plaque to Antonio Vivaldi in 1978 on the occasion of his 300th birthday at the site of his former tomb at the main building of the TU Wien to the Karlskirche.

In 1981, the former Social Democratic Minister of Finance Hannes Androsch assumed the office of a general manager, after he had left the cabinet led by Bruno Kreisky.

[4] In 1858, it purchased and demolished a number of houses on am Hof square in central Vienna and replaced them with a new building designed by architect Franz Fröhlich, with allegorical sculptures by Hans Gasser representing Navigation, Railways, Commerce, Industry, Agriculture, and Mining.

[21] Between 1915 and 1921 the Creditanstalt had its head office expanded northwestward across Tiefer Graben street, on a land plot bordering the Freyung that it had purchased in 1914 from Niederösterreichische Escompte-Gesellschaft, which itself was moving from there to its new headquarters on am Hof 2.

In 2010, it was acquired by financier René Benko, who repurposed its northwestern wing which became the seat of the Austrian Constitutional Court in 2012, whereas the art forum has remained on the southeastern side.

In 1894–1896, the Creditanstalt erected a new building for its branch in Prague, designed by architect Emil von Förster [de] with sculptures by Antonín Popp.