At the end of May, the Austrian Raiffeisen Association welcomed visitors from Brazil. As part of its European tour, Sicredi, one of Brazil’s leading cooperative financial institutions, also stopped in Austria. Sicredi and Raiffeisen Austria have maintained a very positive exchange for many years. The delegation of senior executives aimed to learn more about Raiffeisen’s cooperative banking model, its governance structure, and its role in the Austrian and European financial ecosystem.
Johannes Rehulka, Secretary General of the Austrian Raiffeisen Association, welcomed the delegation and Sicredi President Márcio Port, highlighting the many similarities between Sicredi and the Austrian Raiffeisen Banking Group, from their three-tier structures to their strong regional presence. Manuel Hanselmann from the ÖRV’s Centre of Competence for Cooperatives then provided insights into the diversity and impact of the cooperative model in Austria.
The programme then continued with a visit to Raiffeisenbank Wienerwald. Its Managing Directors, Alexandra Tychi and Alexander Stegbauer, together with their team, provided practical insights into how cooperative principles are put into practice locally. Through an interactive series of stations, participants used AI-supported videos featuring Portuguese-speaking avatars to explore key aspects of the bank, ranging from regional development and the cooperative dividend to energy cooperatives and the governance structure. The format demonstrated how modern technologies can be applied in cooperative practice.
