Zentralsparkasse

On 20 October 1905, the Vienna City Council under Christian Social Mayor Karl Lueger made the decision to establish the Zentralsparkasse, following the development of municipal savings banks (German: Gemeindesparkassen) in Austria since the 1850s.

Like with other similar entities, the city of Vienna was not formally the bank's owner but assumed liability for all its savings deposits and controlled its governance.

One of the main drivers for its creation had been the expansion of the municipality of Vienna which had absorbed surrounding villages which had their own Gemeindesparkasse, an idea that had been debated since 1885.

It was the key financier of the investments of the so-called Red Vienna municipal government from 1919 to 1934, under the aegis of City Councillor for Finance Hugo Breitner [de].

In 1965, it relocated its head office to a purpose-built property at Vordere Zollamtsstraße 13, designed by architect Artur Perotti [de] on the site of the former Bürgertheater which had been demolished in 1960.

On 26 September 1991 it closed a merger with the struggling state-owned Länderbank, forming what was initially called Z-Ländebank Bank Austria AG on 5 October, with retroactive effect from 1 January 1991.