Susanne Riess-Hahn: Signa boards and liability questions

analysisThe retained biographical reference identifies Susanne Riess-Hahn, also known as Susanne Riess and formerly Riess-Passer, as Austria’s vice-chancellor and minister for public service and sport from 2000 to 2003. It describes her as Wüstenrot’s general director from 2004. These offices explain her public-career background; they are not a sanction designation or adverse finding. ¹

analysisThe same reference places her on SIGNA Holding’s advisory board from 2009 and on Prime and Development’s supervisory boards from July 2017. SIGNA’s own archived September 2013 page independently names her as an advisory-board member at that date. The absence of end dates in a biography does not show that those Signa offices continued after insolvency. ^{1 2}

analysisThe retained biography also records supervisory-board service at BAWAG-Holding in 2008–2013, Österreichische Industrieholding AG from June 2014 to March 2015, and Verbund AG in 2015–2020. Those outside-company offices are distinct from her Signa appointments; historical terms do not establish current posts. ¹

analysisAn April 2026 account describes potential liability claims against former supervisory-board members, naming Riess-Hahn alongside Alfred Gusenbauer and Robert Peugeot. The matters concern intercompany loans and alleged delay in insolvency filings. The account reports an approximately EUR 1 billion demand by Prime’s administrator in January 2025 and ongoing settlement discussions. Those are demands and negotiations: the retained material does not establish a judgment against Riess-Hahn or an agreed settlement. ¹

analysisThe institutional distinction matters when reading those claims. Holding’s advisory board and the two property companies’ supervisory boards are different bodies. Riess-Hahn’s governance roles do not make her the alleged actor in a separate allegation against another director, and the financial amount of a collective claim cannot be assigned to her individually without a specific finding. ^{2 1}