of activity were restricted to the much smaller, newly founded Austrian Republic. As a result, the number of post office branches was heavily reduced from 7,000 to around 2,000. On 28 December 1926, parliament passed a new law which liberalised the P.S.K., transferring it from direct state administration and control into a separate, independent legal entity as a public company. Following the Anschluss of Austria to Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945, the P.S.K. was dissolved as a legal entity by the Nazis, and all assets were transferred to Germany. Rebirth and merger After the liberation and the restoration of Austria, the postal savings bank was re-founded on 26 April 1945, as Österreichische Postsparkassenamt. It was the first Viennese banking institute to resume its services and was under the direct control of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance. It remained under the direct control of the ministry until 1 January 1970, when the 1969 Postal Savings Bank Act () came into effect. The bank regained its pre-war status as an independent legal entity in form of a public company. Österreichische Postsparkasse, as it was now called, was however required to further follow the monetary and fiscal policy of the Austrian Federal Government in its business dealings and to support the Austrian National Bank (OeNB) in all currency and lending policies. The Federal Government assumed liability for all P.S.K. obligations in return for the right to half of the annual net profit. The law formed the starting point for a new business strategy aimed at creating a market-oriented range of services. The strategy seemed to work well, as the bank grew and was able to further consolidate its position in 1976, when it purchased the majority stake in the Appell Kunden-Kredit Teilzahlungsbank regGenmbH, which was one year later converted into a full bank under the name Bank der Österreichischen Postsparkasse AG (P.S.K. Bank AG). The 1990s saw substantial change for the bank. In 1996, parliament passed a law to change the P.S.K. into a joint stock company (). The following year, the Federal Ministry of Finance allowed the P.S.K. to grant private loans. With the award of the license the bank secured preferential treatment for financing of companies that are majority-owned by the government. The P.S.K. registered with the company register at the Vienna commercial court. The bank also was listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange. The Austrian government was liable