what drives us

facts and figures

1.717 banks and savings banks,
530 insurance companies and 2.983 auditing companies, including the „Big Four“ of the world’s largest auditing firms PwC, EY, KPMG and Deloitte.

A strong financial economy is essential for the real economy and prosperity in Germany. Whether Hamburg, Frankfurt, NRW, Berlin, Munich or Stuttgart – the German financial centers are aiming for a growing financial sector and are characterized by diversity, innovation and sustainability.

This is also confirmed by the Global Financial Centres Index, in which all of  the German financial centers are listed in top positions among 120 further financial centers. The index is evaluated and published semi-annually by the Z/Yen Group, taking into account a large number of indices. It compares the competitiveness of financial centers worldwide and provides an overview about the progress of leading financial centers.

An overview of the individual financial centers can be found here: About Us

Sustainability

The transformational process towards a green and sustainable economy requires appropriate, innovative and scalable support from the financial industry.

Neither the “Sustainable Development Goals” nor the objectives of the “Paris Agreement” could be accomplished without fundamental change within the national and international capital allocations framework. The challenge consists in developing applicable concepts for the implementation of Environment Social and Governance (ESG) criteria in the business models of various financial stakeholders. It would promote the identification and management of sustainability-related risks, enhance competition in a proactive manner, and seize economic opportunities of sustainable development.

FACTS AND FIGURES ON GERMANY AS A LOCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE-FINANCE

Europe is the global pioneer market for sustainable finance. The volume invested in sustainable finance in Europe is about ten times as large as in the United States of America. Germany is unquestionably one of the leading European financial centres for sustainable finance. This is confirmed by the results of the study „Zahlen, Daten, Fakten zum Sustainable-Finance-Standort Deutschland“ (Germany only)*.

Five facts on Germany as a location for sustainable finance (derived from the study):

• After the USA and China, Germany has the largest share of green IPOs worldwide in the last ten years. Almost three out of four green IPO activities take place in these three countries.
• With a share of 8.6% of the total national green IPO activity, Germany has been a global leader in the past ten years.
• With a current market share of 52%, Europe is the world’s largest driver of green bonds in terms of total issuance volume. With 24%, Germany accounts for almost a quarter of the European market, making it a key player in the global market.
• The issuance of sustainable loans in Germany is steadily increasing. The German development bank KfW, for example, shows a linear growth of sustainable loans to a value of almost 50 billion euros in 2021.
• The performance of a financial centre depends largely on the performance of its ecosystem. Germany and the EU have a supportive ecosystem in the area of sustainable finance. For example, Germany scores highly in terms of the extensive sustainability reporting of local companies, a reliable regulatory environment and important institutions based in Germany, such as the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).

*The study was conducted by HSBA Hamburg School of Business Administration on behalf of Germany Finance.

SUSTAINABLE FINANCE STRATEGY OF THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT

The German government has adopted a Sustainable Finance Strategy based on the recommendations of the Sustainable Finance Advisory Council. The aim is to strengthen the financial system, increase resilience to sustainability risks and enable companies to transform sustainable investment. The strategy is embedded in the European sustainable finance agenda. The measures of the German strategy can be assigned to a total of five objectives:

• Advancing Sustainable Finance globally and across Europe;
• Seize opportunities, finance transformation, anchor sustainability impact;
• Improve risk management in a targeted manner and ensure financial market stability;
• Strengthening Germany as a financial center, expanding expertise, and
• establish KfW in particular as a role model in the German financial system.

Sustainable Finance COMMITTEE

The Sustainable Finance Advisory Board advises the German government on the development and implementation of its Sustainable Finance Strategy. It was established by the German government on 6 June 2019 for the duration of the current legislative period in order to pool existing expertise and promote dialogue between the relevant actors.

Its members are practitioners from the financial and real economy, civil society and academia.

In its final report, the Advisory Committee developed approaches and recommendations on how Germany can become a leading location for sustainable finance. These will be taken into account by the German government in its sustainable finance strategy.

Sources: Green and Sustainable Finance Cluster Germany, Sustainable Finance Committee

Innovation, fin- ANd Insurtech

The German Fintech sector is very active and constantly changing. In all German financial centres, Fintechs have expanded the solutions offered by the financial sector.

The diversity within the operating fields and solution approaches of the German Fintechs is immense. Whether payment, savings, or crypto-trading. Whether Insurance, Trade Finance or Comparison, whether B2B or B2C, there is hardly an area that German FinTechs do not address.

The FinTechs benefit from a broad range of supporters and ecosystem of accelerators, incubators, local initiatives or networks of established financial centre initiatives at various locations.

Whether a challenge or cooperation model, start-ups in various stages of development up to established listed companies, the German FinTech landscape is characterized by a great diversity.

Human resources

In today’s modern society, the general financial education of the population is becoming increasingly important. It helps in building up assets, dealing with debt, understanding risk and insurance, as well as the daily handling of money and securities. Financial education is an important part of general economic education, the basis for retirement planning and sustainable investment. The long-term goal should be to support and promote financial literacy in Germany, as this knowledge has an impact on growth, employment opportunities and the prosperity of the country.

In addition, the lack of young talents in a wide range of industries in Germany is already a permanent topic. The financial sector is not immune to this development. The early search for and networking with young talents is an elementary step for financial locations to be able to attract young and well-trained staff.

FINANCE

When it comes to major economic challenges, financing is often a bottleneck, especially for small and medium-sized companies. In times of crisis in particular, liquid funds can be necessary. In order for companies to take advantage of opportunities and invest, many have to strengthen their capital base.

Crises like pandemics and climate change are also financial challenges. Digitization and technological change are accelerating. In order to take advantage of future opportunities, innovation and financing are key. The transformation encompasses regions, industries and companies. Important drivers are improvements in the economic and financial policy framework and the infrastructure, a strengthening of research and innovation funding, an effective use of digitization potential and a climate protection policy that sets the right incentives. Companies have to develop business models, processes and products further or, in the case of disruption, renew them.

Innovation and investment must be financed. Mega topics for finance and companies are sustainable finance, the financing of digitization and the promotion of start-ups and start-ups.

With the help of stronger cooperation and networking at the business location and financial center, an ecosystem of companies, investors, science and politics can be created that better supports those involved in financing issues.

Current Challenges

The global economic structural change poses massive challenges for financial centers worldwide. This also applies to Germany as a financial center with its diverse regional centers. In 2020, the triad of ongoing negative interest rate policies, demanding and resource-intensive regulation and rapid digitization has now been joined by the challenges of the right way to deal with the consequences of the corona pandemic. A vital and future-oriented financial center must be able to develop answers to these challenges.

The players in Germany’s financial centers are facing up to these challenges, for example by engaging in a trustful but also critical dialog with political decision-makers and by championing the interests of the financial industry. But also by questioning and adapting established processes in companies, focusing on the customer, finding clever ways to attract and develop talent, and making greater use of cooperation, for example between established players and start-ups.

In combating the economic consequences of the pandemic, the relevance of a well-functioning financial sector for the entire business location has once again been proven. A well-functioning exploitation of the state aid provided and the securing of liquidity for the companies in the business location would not have been possible without the players in the financial center Germany.

You can get an impression of the diverse events in the German financial centers on these pages and in the News segment.