Forward comrades, resist BaFin and BVR! With this claim, several members of VR-Bank Bad Salzungen Schmalkalden expressed their opposition to BaFin special representative Christian Gervais and a restructuring under the direction of the banking association BVR. Last week, the members of the scandal-ridden bank debated the composition of the supervisory board and effectively the direction of the bank until the early hours at the general meeting. As reported by the bank, a motion to modify the articles of association, which aimed to require approval from the general meeting for real estate transactions exceeding 10 million euros, was unsuccessful. The election of the supervisory board also largely followed the expectations of the regulator and the banking association. The restructuring can now begin.

The restructurers put pressure on the members with friendly words: The solidarity community of Volksbanks and Raiffeisenbanks, represented by the BVR's security facility, stands by the bank, its customers, and its members, as the association stated in advance and at the general meeting. Meanwhile, Gervais emphasized a „need for value adjustments“ on loans, real estate, and investments to around 1,400 members. Media reports later circulated a figure of around 280 million euros. In other words: We'll save you – if you allow us to!

The message was clear. The bank's imbalance affects not only the members. What is at stake is trust in the safety of banks. Who wants to risk a customer exodus because a Thuringian bank engaged in risky business and maintained questionable contacts? The financial group of cooperative banks also has an interest in guaranteeing cooperative shares to prevent the model from falling into disrepute. A bank is not just an ordinary company that can disappear quietly if its business model fails. This also applies to a small bank with a balance sheet total of 1.7 billion euros.

However, where the alleged hole opens up remains to be seen. While the rental of a red-light property in Oberhausen and loans to football clubs under temporary advice from former national player Stefan Effenberg are popular topics in the press, they alone are not evidence of an imbalance. The bank further holds other properties from various parts of Germany in its balance sheet, making significant write-downs possible. A collection of partly old tractors or unused stored solar panels are also among the company's assets, as reported by the „Handelsblatt“. The bank's relationships are sometimes dubious: Some business partners are said to have criminal records or belong to the biker scene. So how well is this bank really doing? This must now be examined.

One objection from opponents is that the alleged damage is not proven. Until 2021, the bank made profits, as attested by the auditor, as Georg Scheumann from the Interest Group of Cooperative Members (Igenos) stated at the end of December on „Rennsteig TV“. „It can't be that such a huge hole suddenly appears within a few months", he claimed. Nevertheless, he is referring to an institution that has not yet presented financial statements for 2022. This is a failure of a cooperative. Therefore, the burden of proof is not solely on the side of the restructurers.

Long-time bank CEO Stefan Siebert resigned in November, and the board was reorganized under BaFin representative Gervais. This is the right approach because restructuring cannot succeed without control over all assets. While the independence of a cooperative has a high value, responsibility and liability must also go hand in hand in any business. As long as banks are not allowed to fail outright but instead are bailed out, there should be constraints on their autonomy. Fortunately, many members understood this in the heated night in Erfurt.