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Stefan Effenberg:

Still working as a football expert and presenter, as a banker he is supposed to lose his job

Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa

The name Stefan Effenberg

(55) may no longer be familiar

to young fans of the national soccer team and FC Bayern .

Effenberg won the Champions League with Bayern in 2001 (5:4 against Valencia).

What only a few people remember: VR-Bank Bad Salzungen Schmalkalden brought Effenberg into the credit department in 2018 for the “Corporate Customer Competence Team Football”.

The name “Effenberg Bank” quickly caught on.

Now the Volksbank has terminated its former figurehead.

The bank is planning to withdraw from the football business - and Effenberg is apparently no longer needed.

But Effenberg, who is already known as a kicker for his controversies on and off the field, is not putting up with the expulsion: He has filed a dismissal protection claim with the labor court, reports the “Handelsblatt”.

According to the report, a spokesman for the bank said that it was “correct that the decision to exit the football business has been decided.”

However, we do not comment on personal details in this context for reasons of privacy.

Exit from the football business planned

The bank in Thuringia had granted loans to international professional clubs for years - it is known that the professional clubs FC Schalke 04 and 1. FC Köln, among others, were partly financed through the credit institution.

Effenberg's experience as a professional footballer should help him better assess the risks in this business.

“With my experience and my contacts in sports, I want to help make the right decisions when it comes to where we provide financial support,” Effenberg explained at the time.

According to the report, after being hired, Effenberg tried to arrange business with several professional clubs in Europe.

How successful he really was is not known.

According to “Handelsblatt”, the bank gave its prominent newcomer a knowledge base for the banking business with a further training course worth 70,000 euros at the Academy of German Cooperatives in Montabaur.

Bank in turbulence and the Bafin in the house

According to banking insiders, the football business was said to have been solid, although according to the report this was probably less due to Effenberg.

How the bank is really doing is unclear.

The annual financial statements for 2020 and 2021 are apparently incorrect.

The 2022 annual financial statements have not yet been audited.

But that's not all: at the end of last year, two board members and the supervisory board resigned.

The financial regulator Bafin has sent two special representatives to the institute.

The supervisors have been at loggerheads with the institute for a long time and had asked it to hold more equity.

The bank also made headlines because it owns 16 properties in the red light district of Oberhausen, including several brothels.

The bank is keeping quiet about details.

The Volksbank recently announced in a mandatory notification for 2022 that it can be assumed “that there is a loss that is not covered by half of the total amount of business balances and reserves”.

According to Handelsblatt, the amount is in the three-digit million range.

The cooperative bank wants to provide more detailed information at its general meeting on March 26th.

rei