The Fürstlich Castell’sche Bank, with its head office in Würzburg, Franconia, and its headquarters in the nearby town of Castell, has existed since 1774.
(Photo: Andreas Reeg)
Frankfurt In two years, the Fürstlich Castell’sche Bank will celebrate its 250th anniversary. By then at the latest, CEO Ingo Mandt wants to complete the far-reaching renovation that the noble owners have ordered for the traditional house. After a series of setbacks, the bank wants to reinvent itself as an asset manager.
According to Mandt, the figures for the past year show that the conversion is making progress. In 2021, operating revenues increased by 14 percent to 38.7 million euros. At the same time, however, administrative expenses rose significantly by EUR 7.9 million to EUR 33.2 million due to the costs of the conversion.
The bottom line was an annual surplus of 5.1 million euros after 3.2 million in the previous year. The result from ordinary activities rose by 60 percent to nine million euros. Mandt estimates that the costs for the conversion will ultimately add up to a total of ten million euros.
The head of the bank admits that the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine will have a negative impact on earnings in the current year. Mandt therefore assumes that profits will be around the 2021 level.
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The Fürstlich Castell’sche Bank, with its head office in Würzburg, Franconia, and its headquarters in the nearby town of Castell, has existed since 1774. Since it was founded, the bank has been owned by the present-day Castell-Castell and Castell-Rüdenhausen families. The current owners, Ferdinand Fürst zu Castell-Castell and Otto Fürst zu Castell-Rüdenhausen, earn their money primarily from wine, agriculture and forestry. “Both are fully behind the conversion,” emphasizes Mandt. The bank used the past year to “reposition the entire range of products and services”.
In the course of the conversion, the number of branches of the money house fell from eleven to seven. The bottom line is that the number of employees has remained virtually unchanged, stresses Mandt. Additions and disposals would have roughly balanced each other out.
Derailed by mismanagement
With a core capital ratio of 16.5 percent, the former capital market board member of Landesbank Baden-Württemberg sees himself well prepared for the asset manager market. Last year, the managed customer funds of the Fürstlich Castell’sche Bank increased by ten percent to two billion euros.
The asset management business is fiercely contested in Germany. Hakan Strängh, head of JP Morgan’s private bank in Germany, recently told Handelsblatt: “The pressure on margins is enormous.” There are hardly any countries in Europe where the margins in asset management are so low.
Before Mandt took over the operational management of the Fürstlich Castell’sche Bank, he headed the supervisory board of what he claims to be the oldest financial institution in Bavaria. In the course of the transformation, almost the entire Management Board was replaced. In 2017 the house was hit by a multi-million dollar Fraud been shaken. A senior adviser had, without knowledge of the Bank Dealt with around 50 customers and cheated them. The perpetrator was sentenced to seven years in prison at the end of 2018.
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