Financial supervisory authority Bafin has intervened at Raiffeisenbank Plankstetten. The regulatory body has dismissed the supervisory board of the small cooperative institution in Upper Palatinate and appointed Sandra Michelfelder as a special representative to replace them. This information was released via the bank’s imprint.
A Bafin spokesperson confirmed the appointment of a special representative to the supervisory board to the “Handelsblatt,” though the authority declined to comment further on the matter. Raiffeisenbank Plankstetten also did not comment on the proceedings when questioned by the newspaper.
This change in the supervisory board represents the next escalation in the ongoing struggle concerning the future of Raiffeisenbank. Earlier in July, Bafin had already dismissed the institution’s management board and appointed Odo Steinmann as its special representative. Sandra Michelfelder previously left her position as a board member at the Helaba subsidiary Frankfurter Bankgesellschaft in the summer of 2026. Prior to that, she spent many years at the Dutch major bank ABN Amro and its German subsidiary Bethmann Bank, among other roles, in risk management.
According to Bafin, the assignment of special representatives is considered one of the most severe tools within financial supervision. The Banking Act (Kreditwesengesetz), in paragraphs 45c and 36, stipulates that special representatives can assume the duties and powers of institutional bodies if those bodies, for example, are deemed insufficiently reliable or lack the necessary expertise.
