Georg Fahrenschon

Georg Fahrenschon (born 8 February 1968)is a German politician, representative of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria. From 2008 to 2011 he served as finance minister in the Bavarian State Ministry of Finance. He was a member of the Bundestag of Germany until 2007.

Fahrenschon graduated with a Diplom in economics from the University of Augsburg in 1999.

Member of the German Bundestag, 2002-2007

Following the 2002 federal elections, Fahrenschon became a Member of the German Bundestag, where he served on the Finance Committee. Within the Finance Committee, he was the CDU/CSU parliamentary group’s rapporteur on Germany's Transparency Directive Implementation Act (Transparenzrichtlinie-Umsetzungsgesetz, TUG), among others.

State Minister of Finance, 2008-2011

Following the Bavarian state elections in 2008, Fahrenschon was made State Minister of Finance in the cabinet of Minister-President Horst Seehofer. During his time in office, he led the talks with his Austrian counterpart Josef Proell in 2009 about Austria nationalizing Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International, a local unit of BayernLB, after heavy losses tied to loans in Southeast and Eastern Europe had driven the overextended lender to the brink of collapse.

In the negotiations to form a coalition government following the 2009 federal elections, Fahrenschon was a member of the working group on taxes, national budget and financial policy, led by Thomas de Maizière and Hermann Otto Solms.

In 2011, Fahrenschon presented a proposal envisaging tax cuts of 5 billion euros ($6.5 billion) for lower- and middle incomes by 2013, the year of the subsequent federal election; this move put him in conflict with federal Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, who wanted to delay tax cuts to cut Germany’s budget deficit.

President of the German Savings Banks Association, 2012-2017

In October 2011, it became known that both Fahrenschon and Steffen Kampeter, Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Finance Ministry would be seeking the presidency of the DSGV after incumbent Heinrich Haasis stepped down.

In 2012, Fahrenschon led Germany’s savings banks in helping quash a proposal for Europe-wide deposit guarantees. He later sought to limit the remaining aspects of a European banking union, namely a joint resolution fund and central supervision of all the region’s lenders. Eventually, it was agreed that day-to-day supervision of all but one of the 417 Sparkassen – the largest, the Hamburger Sparkasse is the exception – would remain in German hands.

In November 2017, shortly before Fahrenschon was scheduled to stand for re-election for another six-year term, prosecutors in Munich charged Fahrenschon with tax evasion; he admitted to having filed his tax statements for 2012, 2013 and 2014 too late but denied the allegation and declined to pay a fine. Following internal and public pressure, he resigned from his post.

Fahrenschon is married and has two daughters.

Regulatory bodies

• Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), Member of the Administrative Council (2012-2017)

Financial institutions

• European Savings Banks Group (ESBG), Member of the Board (2012-2017)
• Federal Association of Public Banks in Germany (VÖB), Member of the Board
• KfW, Member of the Supervisory Board, of the Remuneration Committee and of the Audit Committee
• DekaBank, Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Chairman of the Remuneration Committee
• Helaba, Member of the Supervisory Board and the Board of Public Owners
• Berlin Hyp, Chairman of the Supervisory Board
• Landesbank Berlin Holding (LBB), Chairman of the Supervisory Board
• Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank, Member of the Supervisory Board
• Giesecke & Devrient (G&D), Member of the Advisory Board
• BayernLB, Chairman of the Supervisory Board (2008-2011)
• SaarLB, Member of the Supervisory Board (2007-2008)

State-owned companies

• Flughafen München GmbH, Chairman of the Supervisory Board (2008-2011)
• Messe München GmbH, Member of the Supervisory Board

Scientific institutions

• Medical Center of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Member of the Supervisory Board
• Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Member of the Board of Trustees
• Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Member of the Board of Trustees
• Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance, Member of the Board of Trustees
• Munich School of Philosophy, Member of the Board of Trustees
• Ifo Institute for Economic Research, Member of the Board of Trustees

Others

• Cultural Foundation of the Federal States, Member of the Board of Trustees
• Deutsche Sporthilfe, Member of the Foundation’s Council
• Deutsches Museum, Member of the Supervisory Board
• Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation (Savings Banks Foundation for International Cooperation, SBFIC), Chairman of the Board of Trustees (2012-2017)
• Hochschule der Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe - University of Applied Sciences, Chairman of the Advisory Board (2012-2017)
• Goethe-Institut, Member of the Business and Industry Advisory Board
• Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft, Member of the Board of Directors
• Market Economy Foundation (Stiftung Marktwirtschaft), Member of the Political Advisory Board
• Forum Kapitalmarktinstrumente – Kapitalmarktfinanzierung, Member of the Advisory Board
• Ludwig Erhard Foundation, Member
• Munich Finance Forum, Member
• Stiftung Brandenburger Tor, Member of the Board of Trustees
• Schloss Neuhardenberg Foundation, Chairman of the Board of Trustees (2012-2017)
• Graf von Montgelas-Stiftung, Member of the Board of Trustees
• Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), Member