The Austrian banks, in turn, had claims against German banks.

An Austrian bank, Oesterreichische Laenderbank, has just bought land for a large office building.

Six months later, an Austrian bank collapsed, resulting in a run on the rest of Austria's banks.

At that time, however, Austria was under economic pressure from a hostile Germany, and Austrian banks were in a precarious position.

Separate narrative lines intersect in an incident at the last of the film: a mass killing at an Austrian bank.

The $50 million in debt was provided by Credit Anstault, a leading Austrian bank.

Several players will be affected, but at particular risk are the Austrian banks which invested so heavily in the region.

A potential serious hiccup of the Austrian banks could mark a significant blow to Europe's already troubled banking system.

But the Austrian banks' lawyer said that while a settlement proposal is being circulated, all involved in the litigation had not yet reviewed it.

Bankleitzahl is a bank identifier code system used by German and Austrian banks.