Annual Report 2001 - Landesbank Berlin

Credit card business
Insurance brokerage
fund family BerolinaCapital and fund-linked asset management. In addition,
adaptable individual products completed the service range.
At the end of 2001, portfolio management for retail banking clients, including fund
units, contained a volume of securities totalling approximately €12.3 billion.
The number of credit cards issued within the Bankgesellschaft Berlin
Group increased to 1.3 million. The Group thus confirmed its position
as the largest credit card issuer in Germany.
The co-branding programme, started in 2000 with the company “webmiles”, performed
very well in the year under review. The range of credit cards offered in
conjunction with the ADAC (German Automobile Association) was relaunched
and equipped with bonus elements, as was the selection of cards in the course of
the reintroduction of the Berliner Bank BB Magic current accounts.
The credit cards were converted to the new currency before the launch of the euro
notes and coins. In connection with this, the fee within the EU for use outside Germany
ceased to apply and was reduced outside the EU.
With the launch of credit card banking, our clients are in a position to download
their credit card statements online.
In terms of brokering insurance policies for our cooperation partner
Gothaer Versicherungen, a significant improvement was made on the
result for the previous year. A great deal of significance was attached to pension
advice in all client segments, which was particularly reflected in the brokerage of
annuity insurance. Sales of fund-linked insurance products remained high and
represented approximately one-third of sales earnings.
Sales of tax-efficient investments to high net-worth retail banking
Tax-efficient investments
clients was not easy due to the difficulties in the real estate business.
The reversal in the trend already seen in the previous year away from tax-induced
fund products towards income-oriented fund products continued to gain strength.
This trend can also be seen in our sales structure.
18 RETAIL BANKING