Company history

When Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch pioneered the formation of Germany’s first loan association in the mid-19^th century, he was not aware of the fact that he began to pave the way for DZ Bank with the foundation of the Volksbanken. A little later, Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen started to create the first local cooperative bank, the Raiffeisen Bank, granting low-interest loans to workers and farmers. The third bank playing an important role within DZ Bank’s history has been the Landwirtschaftliche Genossenschaftsbank AG, a regional central bank, founded by Wilhelm Haas in 1883. This particular bank and the Preussische Zentralgenossenschaftskasse, the national central institution, formed the two roots of the DZ Bank and a three-tier banking system was created. When the organisations of Haas and Raiffeisen merged to become the world’s largest cooperative association, the Preussenkasse became the central credit institution of the entire rural cooperative system. In 1939, the bank, which is now called Deutsche Zentralgenossenschaftskasse, also assumed the role of the central institution for the Volksbanken. After the DG BANK Act in 1975, the Deutsche Zentralgenossenschaftskasse fiannly became a cooperative central institution, enabling and facilitating mergers between regional central banks and central institutions. In 2001, the two ‘root’ banks merged to form DZ Bank that still sees its duty in fostering the cooperative system.

Key people

 Wolfgang Kirsch, CEO

Wolfgang Kirsch serves as DZ Bank’s Chief Executive Officer since September 2006 and also holds the position as Deputy Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors since October 2005. Before joining DZ Bank, Kirsch had been working for Deutsche Bank from 1981 to 2002, holding several positions in Germany and Singapore such as General Manager and Chief Country Officer.