Stephan Winkelmeier gets up early – even at the weekend. „The dog needs to go out,“ says the CEO of Bayerische Landesbank with a smile. But it's not just the pet that gets him out of bed at half five in the morning. In the early hours of the day, he can work in peace before the phone calls and appointments pile up from 8 a.m. on weekdays.

Winkelmeier has had more to do since December last year. He is not only CEO, but also CFO of BayernLB. His dual role is not set to change. When asked how he manages this, he refers to „good teams“. He says he can rely on his employees. Many have been with him for a long time and the staffing is stable.

And Winkelmeier delegates tasks and responsibilities. The bank confirms that he is anything but a control freak. In fact, he demands that he is given room for manoeuvre when making decisions. The business economist, who was born in Regensburg 58 years ago, is also able to master the dual task because he has already been CFO of BayernLB once before. This was from 2010 to 2014, followed by a brief stint as Managing Director of a medium-sized investment company before he moved to the federal government's FMS Wertmanagement in 2015, where he became CEO.

In July 2019, he returned to the Landesbank as Chairman of the Executive Board. Since then, a lot has changed in the working culture there – not only with the call for personal responsibility and the courage to risk making minor mistakes. At BayernLB, everyone is on first-name terms. This informal behaviour is intended to make it easier to cross hierarchical boundaries. There is no strict dress code; the bank even gives employees white Adidas trainers with the BayernLB logo.

Breakfast with a board member in a small group or lunch are also intended to deepen the exchange and understanding for each other – from top managers to trainees. Winkelmeier himself completed a banking apprenticeship before his studies, and began his career as a trainee at Bayerische Vereinsbank in 1994.

The respectful treatment of all employees does not, of course, conceal Winkelmeier's ambitions for the bank: to grow, to invest, and to earn a premium on the cost of capital. However, he always urges modesty and humility. After the start of the financial crisis in 2008, BayernLB was on the brink of collapse, primarily due to the disaster caused by the takeover of Hypo Alpe Adria in Austria. It could not have been saved without billions in aid from the Free State. Those times now seem like a bad dream.

In 2024, BayernLB increased its earnings for the fourth time in a row: before taxes, it was 1.58 billion euros. With this record figure, the Munich-based bank also outperformed the other Landesbanks, as in previous years. Winkelmeier, however, is cautious about any hint of exuberance: „We are not getting overconfident", he says.

The impressive earnings, with rising dividends for the two shareholders – the Free State of Bavaria and the Bavarian savings banks – as well as the solid capitalisation certainly ease Winkelmeier's double burden as CEO and CFO. After the bank streamlined its structure, which was accompanied by job cuts, an extensive IT project is the only major construction site at BayernLB.

This project focuses on the topics of finance, risk and regulation. The banking supervisory authorities are demanding that institutions provide data more quickly. However, the project named „Kopernikus“ is taking much longer and costing BayernLB considerably more than expected: „We are struggling enormously with it,“ admits Winkelmeier. The planned costs in the low three-digit million range are now in the mid three-digit range. In order to limit the problems, the decision was made last autumn for Chief Financial and IT Officer Markus Wiegelmann to focus entirely on his second area of responsibility. Winkelmeier took over the CFO department, Wiegelmann wants to continue to drive forward „Kopernikus“ until the middle of the year and will then leave the bank.

Winkelmeier could remain at the helm of BayernLB for at least another four years. In summer 2023, the Supervisory Board extended his contract by five years until mid-2029, when he will be 62 years old. Outside of the bank, he is involved in a community foundation in his home town of Vaterstetten on the eastern outskirts of Munich. The foundation supports social and charitable projects in the community. Winkelmeier likes to ride his motorbike there – sometimes early in the morning to the Landesbank in Munich city centre.