Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich (RZB) and Raiffeisen Bausparkasse, its property loan subsidiary, are appointing Manfred Url as successor to Erich Rainbacher as chief executive of Raiffeisen Bausparkasse and Johannes Schuster as successor to Url as member of the managing board of RZB.

Erich Rainbacher, who had run Raiffeisen Bausparkasse for 22 years, will retire at the end of this year. Christian Konrad, president of the supervisory board of RZB, said: “By making these proposals, we are making decisive staff changes in key companies of the Raiffeisen banking group. Manfred Url and Johannes Schuster have Raiffeisen in their blood.”

Url has worked for Raiffeisen since 1982, joining RZB in 1998. Schuster has worked for the group since 1995.

RZB is the main company of the Raiffeisen Banking Group, the largest banking group in Austria. It is the only Austrian bank with a global network of offices. In April 2010 it was decided to merge significant parts of the banking operation of RZB with Raiffeisen International. The merged bank will be called Raiffeisenbank International, obtain an Austrian banking licence as a result of the merger and remain a listed company.