Bafin sends special representatives to the board of Raiffeisenbank Plankstetten

Frankfurt. The financial regulator Bafin is sending a new special representative to the board of the embattled Raiffeisenbank Plankstetten. Bafin appointed Marcus Leiendecker as special representative on October 1st, the bank announced on Wednesday afternoon. The 59-year-old brings board experience from another bank merger.

Leiendecker replaces Odo Steinmann, who has already announced that he is leaving the position for health reasons. Leiendecker was most recently on the board of Volksbank Westmünsterland, which he left last year. He was previously a board member of Volksbank Südmünsterland-Mitte, which merged with Volksbank Westmünsterland in 2024.

Leiendecker said that he wanted to consistently continue the measures he had begun together with his employees and lead the bank “back into orderly and sustainable waters”.

The situation at Raiffeisenbank Plankstetten is unusual and difficult. In the summer, Bafin dismissed the two long-standing board members, Elmar Weiß and Walter Frank, and appointed special representatives for the board and later also for the supervisory board.

The dispute between the financial regulator and the Raiffeisenbank Plankstetten as well as the former board members has been going on for several years. Weiß and Frank had repeatedly refused to take part in discussions during a special audit and had not submitted documents on time. The two former board members failed several times in court to take action against the Bafin measures.

The case is causing dissatisfaction in the cooperative financial sector - all the more so because the financial institution has recently turned away from the cooperative principle entirely. The bank has been organized as a stock corporation instead of a cooperative since 2010.

In mid-September, the owners decided at an extraordinary general meeting that the bank would see itself as a stock corporation according to its statutes, but no longer as a “cooperative” stock corporation. The typical cooperative principle that every owner, regardless of how many shares he has subscribed, has one vote in the general meeting will also be deleted. Instead, there should be one vote per share.

The industry association BVR is currently examining, among other things, the loan book as part of its own special audit. The financial institution is under stricter observation by the BVR protection facility, which protects banks in the event of difficulties but also tries to prevent such cases.