Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen - An idea becomes a success

Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen (1818-1888) took on the challenge of alleviating the severe economic plight of the population. To this end, Raiffeisen created an association of loan banks in 1862, which marked the foundation of the organisation of Raiffeisen cooperatives which today spans the world.

Raiffeisen banks in Austria

Only 10 years after the foundation of Raiffeisenkasse Mühldorf (in the province of Lower Austria) in 1886, as many as 600 savings and loan banks were operating according to the Raiffeisen system.

Following the example of Raiffeisen, the individual cooperatives founded Regional Raiffeisen Banks (beginning in 1894).

On the federal level, a joint association was founded in Vienna in the year 1898, which is called "Österreichischer Raiffeisenverband" today. Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG was founded in 1927 as Genossenschaftliche Zentralbank (GZB) and was renamed in 1989.