Landesbank

In German-speaking jurisdictions, Landesbank (plural Landesbanken), lit. 'bank of the Land', generally refers to a bank operating within a territorial subdivision (Land) that has autonomy but not full sovereignty. It is occasionally translated as "provincial bank".

Austria-Hungary
In the Austro-Hungarian Empire under the rule of the Habsburg monarchy, Landesbanken were government-sponsored banks established in some of the kingdoms and lands of the crown:
 * Landesbank des Königreichs Galizien und Lodomerien mit dem Grossherzogtum Krakau, est. 1883 in Lemberg (now Lviv) for the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria and the Grand Duchy of Kraków
 * Landesbank des Königreiches Böhmen, est. 1890 in Prague for the Kingdom of Bohemia
 * Landesbank für Bosnien und Herzegowina, est. 1895 in Sarajevo for Bosnia and Herzegovina under Austro-Hungarian rule
 * Bukowinaer Landesbank, est. 1905 in Czernowitz (now Chernivtsi) for the Duchy of Bukovina
 * Kroatische Landesbank, est. 1909 in Esseg (now Osijek) for the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia
 * Krainische Landesbank, est. 1912 in Laibach (now Ljubljana) for the Duchy of Carniola

By contrast, Vienna's Länderbank (est. 1880) and its short-lived affiliate the Ungarische Landesbank (1881-1887) were private-sector initiatives. The name Landesbank also survives in regional entities of the cooperative Raiffeisen Group in Austria and, similarly, the Raiffeisen Landesbank Südtirol – Cassa Centrale Raiffeisen dell'Alto Adige in the Italian region of South Tyrol.

Germany


The current Landesbanken are part of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe, one of the three pillars of Germany's banking system. Their business is predominantly wholesale banking, partly to serve local savings banks (Sparkassen). With a few exceptions, Landesbanken and Sparkassen are chartered by national and state banking laws to pursue a public purpose (öffentlicher Auftrag). As of late 2022, they are:


 * Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) in Stuttgart, covering Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Saxony
 * Bayerische Landesbank (BayernLB) in Munich, covering Bavaria
 * Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen (Helaba) in Frankfurt and Erfurt, covering Brandenburg, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Thuringia
 * Norddeutsche Landesbank (NORD/LB) in Hanover, covering Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony-Anhalt, and Schleswig-Holstein
 * Landesbank Saar (SaarLB) in Saarbrücken, covering Saarland

Liechtenstein


The German name of the National Bank of Liechtenstein is Liechtensteinische Landesbank AG.