KGaA is a German private bank , based in Hamburg. The bank was seized and Aryanized by the Nazis. The Warburg family still owns 40 percent of the bank, continuing a more than year legacy of private ownership. The firm was formed in and long described itself as a moneychanger German : Geldwechsler ; it changed that denomination to "bank" only in In , when the Nazis came to power in Germany, Jews were persecuted, and their property began being transferred to non-Jews.
Warburg Co. Siegmund Warburg emigrated from Nazi Germany in and founded S. The bank rose to become one of the most powerful investment banks in the City during the 60s, 70s, and 80s and Warburg himself one of London's most preeminent and influential financiers of the era.
Some descendants immigrated to the United States , for business reasons and to escape the persecution, and established themselves there. They include banker Paul Warburg and his nephew Eric M. Warburg , founder of Warburg Pincus. During recent years, the bank has grown through many acquisitions.
Today, M. The bank has been implicated in the Cum-Ex scandal, accused of defrauding taxpayers in excess of over 50 million euro. According to a Spiegel report published in March , Warburg paid The tax liability from the share transactions was repaid in full in , mainly from the owners' private assets.
On January 12, , the former managing director of a Warburg subsidiary in Luxembourg surprisingly confessed during a trial before the Bonn Regional Court 'third cum-ex criminal trial'. He is regarded as the Warburg Group's first confessed cum-ex actor. The then mayor and now federal chancellor Scholz and the then finance senator and now mayor Tschentscher are accused of having initially waived taxes totalling 47 million euros from M.
