The founder of the interest group for investors fought with a lot of courage and energy for the rights of small investors and for a shareholder culture
He fought tirelessly and fearlessly to improve the shareholder culture in Austria. For a functioning capital market and the interests of small investors. Now Wilhelm Rasinger has lost the fight against an insidious disease. As the KURIER learned from family circles, Wilhelm Rasinger passed away these days. The 72-year-old father of five leaves a big void on the Austrian capital market.
After studying business administration at the Vienna University of Technology, Wilhelm Rasinger started as a management consultant. The Austrian subsidiary of the German insurance giant Allianz brought Rasinger on board as authorized signatory in 1983. In 1999 Rasinger founded the IVA, the interest group for investors.
The domestic capital market urgently needed the IVA. A gambling mentality had spread on the Vienna Stock Exchange, the rights of small shareholders were de facto not an issue. Shareholder culture was a foreign word.
Wilhelm Rasinger had all the prerequisites to fulfill this challenging task. Technically, his know-how was undisputed, he was one of the top experts in the country. Wilhelm Rasinger also had the necessary moral courage. After all, the counterparties with whom he fearlessly fought were in the largest listed companies in this country.
What also distinguished Wilhelm Rasinger was his style. In contrast to some self-appointed investor representatives, he always remained matter-of-fact at the annual general meetings, even in the most heated discussions, and was never undermined. Well prepared, he was quite embarrassing for many CEOs and board chairmen.
However, it was never about putting on a show at the general meeting, he was far too serious for that, but rather about the interests of small investors. With Wilhelm Rasinger you had for the first time a competent, intrepid voice that stood up for your rights.
Wilhelm Rasinger has achieved a lot economically for investors. He managed to improve a number of severance offers and did not shy away from legal disputes in this context. From Bank Austria to Meinl Bank.
As a lobbyist, Rasinger tried for decades to improve the legal framework for the capital market and shareholders. He repeatedly contributed his expertise to working groups.
Wilhelm Rasinger was also a professional when it came to public relations. His main goal was to get Austrians from savings accounts to shares and to create awareness of the capital market on a broad basis. Here, he once said, he still had a lot to do.
Wilhelm Rasinger was always a sought-after discussion partner in the media. Few interviewees in the financial sector expressed their opinions as critically and independently as the head of the IVA. Wilhelm Rasinger was also available to provide expert advice to generations of business and financial journalists.
Rasinger was happy to provide his expertise not only to journalists, but also to supervisory boards. He was one of the first to hold seminars for supervisory boards, where he – rightly – saw a lot of catching up to do. Professionally and in terms of interests. According to his credo, the supervisory board alone has to represent the interests of the company. As soon as he comes in at the door, “he has other interests to hand in the cloakroom”.
Wilhelm Rasinger himself was present on several supervisory boards over the years, from Agrana to Wienerberger and S-Immo. Most recently he was on the supervisory board of Erste Group.
The education of the students was also important to him. He still found time for an honorary professorship for business administration at the Vienna University of Technology and also taught at the Krems University of Applied Sciences.
