Banking in Germany

Banking in Germany is a highly leveraged industry, as its average leverage ratio (assets divided by net worth) as of 11 October 2008 is 52 to 1 (while, in comparison, that of France is 28 to 1 and United Kingdom is 24 to 1); its short-term liabilities are equal to 60% of the German GDP or 167% of its national debt.[1]

Bankenviertel in Frankfurt – the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, many corporate headquarters of large German banks and representation offices of foreign banks are located there

History

From the 15th century, banking families such as Fugger, Welser and Hochstetter were international mercantile bankers and venture capitalists. The oldest bank still in existence in Germany, Berenberg Bank, was founded by Dutch brothers Hans and Paul Berenberg in 1590, is still owned by the Berenberg family, and is the world's oldest or second oldest bank, depending on the exact definition.

Market overview
Symbols of German BVR co-operative banks and electronic cash ATM
A typical German savings bank branch in Kürten showing the Sparkasse logo

Germany has universal banking. The private customer mostly has to choose between three kinds of banks (German "three pillar system"):

(A) private banks (including direct banks):

(B) cooperative banks:

(C) public savings banks:

Private banks are found mostly in the cities whereas cooperative and savings banks are almost everywhere, and are often exclusive in smaller villages.

ATM (Geldautomat) are on nearly every corner. However, customers mostly have to use their bank's ATM with their debit card if they don't want to pay a fee. Cash Group offers free ATM through the group. Using a credit card (Visa/MasterCard/Diners Club/American Express) from a German bank in any German ATM generates a fee of about 3%. Most people prefer to use their EC/Maestro debit card. Many physical payments are still made in cash, but increasingly, Germans are using their EC/Maestro. Online payments are done mostly either with direct debit (Lastschrift) or with credit card.

Most of the banks offer a free main account (Girokonto) as long as the customer deposits a minimum amount regularly (> €1000 income each month).

gollark: This is ***evil*** code.
gollark: Not my code.
gollark: This literally says "pay attention to what you run", *but actually warns you twice*.
gollark: ```lua --Error screen term.clear() term.setCursorPos(1,1) print("ERROR!!!") sleep(0.1) print("ERROR CODE: ERR_OS_CORRUPT") sleep(0.1) print("Detailed information for diagnostics follow:") sleep(0.1) print("0x00000001 0x00000002 0x00000010") sleep(0.1) print("0x00000101 0x00120000 0x01000300") sleep(0.1) print("0x00000000 0x00001040 0x0000000F") sleep(0.1) print("0x00010506 0x01200040 0x00000003") sleep(0.1) term.setCursorPos(1,10) sleep(0.3) print("If you installed any new hardware or software,") sleep(0.1) print("try removing them before restarting.") sleep(0.1) print("If the problem still persists, bring your computer") sleep(0.1) print("to a technician.") sleep(0.2) print("Error program left a message: Pay attention to what you run next time ;)") sleep(0.1) term.setCursorPos(1,17) sleep(0.3) print("You will lose all unsaved work.") sleep(2) print("This computer has been terminated.")```
gollark: WHY™

See also

References
  1. Norris, Floyd (10 October 2008). "The World's Banks Could Prove Too Big to Fail — or to Rescue". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 15 December 2017.

Other sources
  • J Cable, ‘Capital Market Information and Industrial Performance: The Role of West German Banks’ (1985) 95 Economic Journal, p. 118

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