Germany's Bank Branches Continue to Shut Down
Nowadays, numerous individuals perform their banking activities on their personal computers or smartphones. Consequently, the relevance of branches in Germany is significantly decreasing. Based on a study, many people wouldn't even notice if these branches ceased to exist.
Germany has fewer than 20,000 bank branches for the first time. The Bundesbank in Frankfurt reported that, as of the end of December, there were only 19,501 staffed branches left, which was 945 or 4.6% less than a year prior. "The expanding prevalence of online banking and the continuous financial pressure resulted in a contraction of the branch network across all sectors of the banking industry," the Bundesbank noted.
As more people conduct banking transactions from the comfort of their homes or via their smartphone apps, financial institutions have been scaling down their costly branch networks for years while still attempting to maintain a presence in the area away from physical locations. Some examples of alternative methods include video assistance, extended business hours on Saturdays, savings bank buses, and shared branches across institutional borders.
Savings banks and cooperative banks operate the majority of branches
As per a recent survey conducted by the digital association Bitkom, a sizeable portion (almost 48%) of the 1004 participants said they wouldn't be disappointed if there were no more bank branches. On the other hand, the latest figures from the Bundesbank show that the rate of branch closures slowed down in the previous year. In the pandemic years of 2021 (2,388 branches closed) and 2022 (1,266), the shift towards online banking increased, leading to an unprecedented rate of closures. Branches strictly for ATMs are not taken into account.
The Bundesbank figures indicate that the savings banks and Landesbanken run the most branches, with 7,104 places at the end of last year. The cooperative banks, including the Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken, have 6588 branches.
The latest statistics from the Bundesbank also reveal that there were 52 mergers, primarily in the cooperative sector, which caused the overall count of credit institutions in Germany to drop from 1458 to 1403 in 2022.
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In light of the increasing popularity of online banking, some individuals might find themselves adjusting their banking habits to conform to Corona measures, performing transactions from home instead of visiting physical branches. Furthermore, the contraction of bank branches in Germany is not exclusive to major commercial banks, as savings banks and cooperative banks have also streamlined their branch networks to accommodate digital banking services.
Source: www.ntv.de
