Corporate Governance and Access to Finance - ESBG

It is important to note that this picture simply represents the differentelements belonging to the network. It does by no means representownership relationships or hierarchy.IntroductionFor over 200 years the Sparkassen have provided access to financialservices to all strata of the population nationwide and, by granting loansto SME, promoted the development of their respective regions inGermany. This means that in addition to striving for appropriate profitsthey also pursue a public mission. Today the 430 savings banks togetherwith the Landesbanken and other network members have a strongposition in the German financial market with almost 39 million citizens inGermany having one or more accounts with the savings banks, and atotal number of clients of 50 million. They have a very high penetrationin the small and medium-sized business segment.The Sparkassen business model focuses on private customers and smalland medium-sized enterprises. The amount of loans granted to SME isclose to 145 billion euro, and the loans given to individuals amount to290 billion euro. The market share of total non-bank assets is 38 percent.Sparkassen have presence in all regions in Germany, and are the largestplayer in terms of number of branches with around 15,800. No other brandin the financial sector in Germany enjoys recognition and trust like Sparkasse.Corporate GovernanceAlmost all savings banks in Germany are institutions under public law.This specific legal form of Sparkassen is explicitly stipulated in therespective savings banks laws of the Länder. “Träger” (this German legalterm may be translated as “responsible public body”, describing thepublic body responsible for the savings bank; it does not define a strictowner-relationship) of the savings banks therefore are municipalities,districts or joint bodies of local authorities for joint mastering of certaintasks (“kommunale Zweckverbände”).114