Ex-HGAA boss freed from custody

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Finance

Former Hypo Group Alpe Adria (HGAA) head Wolfgang Kulterer has been released from custody after three months.The banker, who is accused of being responsible for massive losses suffered by the bank in Croatia and other countries in southern Europe, left Klagenfurt prison yesterday (Thurs) after a bail of 500,000 Euros was transferred to juridical authorities.Kulterer’s […]

RBI ‘eyes Polbank stake’

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Finance

Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) is considering taking a stake in a Polish bank, it has been claimed.Business newspapers report today (Weds) that bosses of the Austrian institute, which handles Raiffeisenzentralbank’s (RZB) operations in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), are negotiating placing an offer for a stake in Polbank EFG.RBI refused to comment the reports, while […]

Tyrolean jailed over train ticket scam

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General News

A 20-year-old woman has been sentenced to jail for failing to pay for train tickets worth more than 10,000 Euros.Judges at a court in Innsbruck, Tyrol, heard yesterday (Thurs) how the young woman ordered more than 400 train tickets but failed to pay for any. She managed to trick Federal Railways (ÖBB) for years by […]

UniCredit cost-cutting ambitions fuels BA job loss fears

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Finance

Works council chiefs are on high alert after new UniCredit boss Federico Ghizzoni revealed plans to save costs.The businessman, who succeeded Alessandro Profumo as chief of Italy’s biggest bank last month, said in an interview with Rome newspaper La Repubblica yesterday (Tues) that he wanted to “lower costs”.He also stressed: “UniCredit is a healthy bank. […]

Basel III no further strain for BAWAG owners, CEO claims

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Business

BAWAG boss Byron Haynes has denied claims Cerberus Capital Management considered leaving the Austrian bank sooner than planned following the introduction of stricter banking regulations.Haynes stressed today (Weds) speculations that the US American investor would sell BAWAG sooner than expected because of the Basel III agreement were wrong. Cerberus committed to remain on board for […]

German prosecutors under fire for questioning Austrian HGAA reporters

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Finance

Journalist representatives are outraged over an investigation by German prosecutors into Austrian reporters for citing from interrogation records.Munich juridical authorities decided to question profil writers Ulla Schmid and Michael Nikbakhsh Kurt Kuch from weekly magazine News after they revealed statements made by former Hypo Group Alpe Adria (HGAA) decision-makers.German state prosecutors controversially regard the Austrian […]

Banks and campaigning parties focus on immigrants

Categories
Politics

Around 6,000 immigrants have opened accounts at Erste Bank in the past three years following a groundbreaking project targeting foreigners.Peter Thier, a spokesman for the institute, said today (Fri): “Our pilot project worked so well that we decided to keep and expand it.”He explained five clerks speaking Serbian, Croatian and Turkish worked in branches in […]

Brit faces armed robbers in Linz

Categories
General News

A British man has described the terrifying moment when an armed robber pointed a gun at him after he went into a high street bank in the centre of Linz yesterday (Tuesday).Simon Byrne, 24, from Liverpool, said: “I had only just walked into the bank in the middle of the day. I wanted to open […]

BA job loss concerns as Profumo quits

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Finance

A Bank Austria (BA) official has revealed he was “alarmed” by the retirement of UniCredit boss Alessandro Profumo.Profumo, who announced yesterday (Tues) he would step down, has been heavily criticised for failing to prevent Libyan state bodies increase their stake in the Italian institute to 7.5 per cent.The Italian banker guaranteed UniCredit’s subsidiary BA it […]

Kulterer remains in custody

Categories
Finance

Former Hypo Group Alpe Adria (HGAA) boss Wolfgang Kulterer has had his custody extended.Klagenfurt prosecutors announced today (Mon) they decided to extend the banker’s detention over fears he might flee and try to cover up potential crimes previously carried out by him in connection with the near collapse of HGAA.Kulturer was arrested on 13 August. […]