History
Company History of DEPFA BANK
The bank's history began in Berlin on 22 July 1922
This was the day on which the Prussian Minister for Finance, the Minister for Public Welfare and the Justice Minister signed the memorandum of association setting up a non-profit making mortgage credit institution with the right to issue Pfandbriefe under the name of 'Preußische Landespfandbriefanstalt'.
On 20 May 1922, the Prussian State Parliament had passed the corres-ponding bill aimed at establishing a specialist institution focusing on finance for small-scale residential construction. Following approval of the memorandum and articles of association, the new bank was able to start business on 22 July 1922. In December 1922, the new bank moved into its first offices in a small palace owned by the government at No. 26 Berliner Schützenstraße. Increasing staff numbers forced the bank to look for a larger building a few years later, which was provided by Nos. 7-8 Mohrenstraße Berlin. It was from these offices that the bank first became active as a property developer in 1927.
Balance sheets in trillions and gold Pfandbriefe
The bank started business in a difficult political period, marked by internal political confusion, a lack of economic control and rapidly rising inflation. As it soon became impossible to ascertain fixed values on the basis of the currency, gold-backed Pfandbriefe were issued. The first financial year ended with a balance sheet total of some 1,200,000 trillion Marks. During the 1924 financial year, the bank had to convert to the Goldmark and the Reichsmark.
The new bank was also affected by the depression of 1930. Meanwhile, however, it had achieved a considerable position in the banking world and in the bond market, belonging to the group of respected larger Pfandbrief banks. At the end of 1932, the bank's balance sheet total exceeded 400 m Reichsmark. Its share capital, which was almost entirely owned by the Prussian government, amounted to some 39 m Reichsmark.
