Introduction - Genossenschaftsverband Bayern

Such potential financial service suppliers could well be recruited from
the utilities or telecommunication sectors.
New suppliers will probably utilise their existing distribution channels
and their well-established brand image to compete with the traditional
bank branch. Banks will be forced to optimise costs and customer
proximity of their branch services. The result will be the growing
importance of the group-wide standardisation of products and
services. The power of groups and networks will depend on their ability
to bundle their internal services, e. g. in the area of IT or risk management.
Furthermore, branch locations and business hours have to
become better adapted to the requirements of the market. It will be
crucial to attract customers into the branch office in order to cancel
out the point-of-sale disadvantages as compared to retailing. The Saturday
openings of several banks are early indications that they have
started to adapt to changed customer behaviour. The same goes for
the plans of the savings banks to integrate post offices into their
branches. The currently practised concept of an isolated branch office
with strictly limited opening hours can hardly be maintained in the
future.
3 Change in the demand of financial services
Demand for banking products is also undergoing a steady process of
change. This applies especially to the customer business. On the one
hand, the internationalisation of the economy will continue affecting
not only big industries and commercial banks. The SMEs, too, look for
business opportunities in foreign countries. In the meantime, SMEs in
the manufacturing sector earn just under 30 per cent of their earnings
in foreign countries – with growing tendency. That indicates that
the increasing economic interdependence affects more and more
SMEs and in its wake their main banks in the region. Regional banks
that are not competent in foreign business or do not make this competence
visible rob themselves of their market potential.
2 Market pressure of suppliers from outside the industry
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