The result should be known by the end of the year.
The Vorarlberg State Audit Office has begun examining the business conduct of Hypo Vorarlberg Bank AG with regard to the loan transactions with the now insolvent Signa Group. The review of the extensive documents has been ongoing since July, said director Brigitte Eggler-Bargehr to ORF on Friday. A result is not expected until the end of the year at the earliest.
At the beginning of March, the Vorarlberg state parliament parties submitted an application in which the State Audit Office was asked to examine “the high-risk transactions of Hypo Vorarlberg Bank AG from 2020 onwards, in particular the investments and loans granted to Signa Holding, the Signa Private Foundation and all subsidiaries and shareholdings”. Questions about control mechanisms, reporting obligations between departments, the role of the supervisory board and whether there was an internal early warning system were to be answered. A recommendation was also requested on how the risks for the state of Vorarlberg must be secured in the future.
The amount of a possible loss for Hypo due to loans to the insolvent Signa Group is still open. The bank has therefore massively increased its risk provisions in the 2023 financial statements from 10 to 75 million euros. A default scenario of 131.2 million euros was calculated for the worst case scenario. The bank’s management emphasized in March that there was collateral. The Signa loans had caused an intense debate in Vorarlberg about the lending and role of the Landesbank – Hypo is almost 77 percent state-owned.
(WHAT)
