verantwortliche-kreditvergabe
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GERMAN BANKING SYSTEM – The Regional Responsibility of savings banks in Germany is related to models of „community banking” which are increasingly investigated. The positive experiences of the cooperatives and savings banks system should not be a silent victim to private sector interests. The setup allowing for socially just lending practices may be worth preserving.
REGIONAL RESPONSIBILITY OF SAVINGS BANKS IN GERMANY


"The German banking sector is characterized by three pillars: the private banking sector, a cooperative banking network and the public-sector banking network Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe. While banks in the private banking sector mainly pursue profit-maximizing activities, both the cooperative banking network and the public-sector network are not working on a profit-maximizing business agenda. However, both groups must offer financial services economically. In addition to that, the cooperative banks are also maximizing member welfare and thepublic-sector banks are also maximizing social welfare.

This leads to an interesting situation. There was no financial crisis in the German banking system since World War II due to structural problems. Moreover, all recent stress tests run by banking supervision institutions attest the German banking system has great overall stability. Due to the competition between the three pillars, profit margins in Germany are low compared to other European countries. This is indeed a problem for stock exchange-listed banks. But the competition has a positive impact on availability and prices of financial services forprivate customers and small business owners.

Although there is still room for improvement, financial exclusion in Germany is relatively low compared to other industrialized countries. One reason is the nation-wide availability of financial services: both the cooperative and the public-sector group work on a regional principle. This principle means all local member institutions (local cooperative banks and community-based savings banks) are only allowed to conduct business in their respective community. Since they belong to a larger banking network organization, they can however take advantage of centralized banking services and therefore offer a large range of financial services to their local customers."

ID: 37921
Autor(en): Anke Turner
Erscheinungsdatum: 20.07.06
   
 

Erzeugt: 21.07.06. Letzte Änderung: 21.07.06.
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