Modern office Buildings in Frankfurt, Germany | © Getty Images/Westend61
There were 1,823 credit institutions active in Germany in 2017, of which 284 were private banks. The banking sector has a workforce of more than 585,000 people. The total assets of the German banking industry amounted to EUR 7,927 billion in 2017.
German Banking Industry Assets 2017 | © Deutsche Bundesbank, bankenverband
The banking sector in Germany is made up of three pillars: commercial banks, the public banking sector (Sparkassen and Landesbanken – Germany’s decentralized network of independent regional commercial and savings banks) and cooperative banks (Volks- und Raiffeisenbanken).
This is a special characteristic of the German market, as private banks only cover part of the market. Large sections of the market are served by the network of savings and cooperative banks. Germany’s universal banking system is another unique feature of the German market.
| Largest German Commercial Banks by Total Assets 2017 (in EUR billion) | ||
| Deutsche Bank AG | Frankfurt/M. | 1.474 |
| DZ Bank AG | Frankfurt/M. | 505 |
| KfW Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau | Frankfurt/M. | 472 |
| Commerzbank AG | Frankfurt/M. | 452 |
| Unicredit Bank AG | Munich | 299 |
| Landesbank Baden-Württemberg | Stuttgart | 237 |
| Bayerische Landesbank | Munich | 214 |
| Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale | Hanover | 165 |
| ING-Diba AG | Frankfurt/M. | 162 |
| Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen Girozentrale | Frankfurt/M. | 158 |
| Source: Statista | ||
| Largest German Saving Banks by Total Assets 2018 (in EUR billion) | ||
| Hamburger Sparkasse | Hamburg | 45.8 |
| Sparkasse Köln/Bonn | Cologne | 26.7 |
| Kreissparkasse Köln | Cologne | 26.1 |
| Frankfurter Sparkasse | Frankfurt/M. | 19.1 |
| Stadtsparkasse München | Munich | 19.1 |
| Sparkasse Hannover | Hanover | 15.4 |
| Mittelbrandenburgische Sparkasse in Potsdam | Potsdam | 13.6 |
| Sparkasse Pforzheim Calw | Pforzheim | 12.4 |
| Ostsächsische Sparkasse Dresden | Dresden | 12.2 |
| Nassauische Sparkasse | Wiesbaden | 11.8 |
| Source: Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband | ||
| Largest German Cooperative Banks by Total Assets 2018 (in EUR billion) | ||
| Deutsche Apotheker- und Ärztebank eG | Düsseldorf | 45.5 |
| Berliner Volksbank eG | Berlin | 14.1 |
| Sparda-Bank Baden-Württemberg eG | Stuttgart | 13.7 |
| Frankfurter Volksbank eG | Frankfurt/M. | 12.3 |
| Sparda-Bank West eG | Düsseldorf | 12.2 |
| BBBank eG, Karlsruhe | Karlsruhe | 12.0 |
| Sparda-Bank Südwest eG | Mainz | 10.1 |
| Bank für Sozialwirtschaft AG | Cologne | 8.8 |
| Sparda-Bank München eG | Munich | 8.2 |
| Volksbank Mittelhessen eG | Gießen | 7.8 |
| Source: Bundesverband der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken | ||
The largest bank location in Germany is Frankfurt; other important bank locations include Munich, Dusseldorf, and Hamburg.
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