The Zentralsparkasse, full name Zentralsparkasse der Gemeinde Wien (lit. 'Central Savings Bank of the City of Vienna') was a major bank in Austria. It was founded in 1905 and eventually merged in 1991 with the Austrian Länderbank to form Bank Austria, itself later integrated into UniCredit.
Overview
On 1905/10/20, the Vienna City Council under Christian Social Mayor Karl Lueger made the decision to establish the Zentralsparkasse, following the development of municipal savings banks 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. The new institution immediately became a major competitor to the Erste österreichische Spar-Casse which had been the dominant savings bank in Vienna since 1819. 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. These included Sechshaus (savings bank est. 1881), Hernals (est. 1890), Währing (est. 1884) and Döbling (est. 1883), all of which were incorporated into Vienna in 1890-1892, as well as Floridsdorf (est. 1881) which was incorporated into Vienna in 1904-1905. After the creation of the Zentralsparkasse, these local savings banks continued to operate under the name Wiener Kommunalsparkasse in their respective districts, before fully merging into the Zentralsparkasse in 1923.
The Zentralsparkasse began operations on 1907/01/02 in the Old City Hall of Vienna