Munich Financial Center: Top in Finance! - Invest in Bavaria

Munich Financial Center Initiative
Banking: A Leader in the Sector The Bavarian Banking Center at a Glance*
Bavaria plays a central role in German
banking. Overall, the banks domiciled here
have lent funds totaling about 730 billion
euros to business and consumers. That‘s
more than 15 percent of the total lending
volume of German banks. Munich banks
alone represent one-tenth of the entire busi-
ness volume of the German credit services
industry. That makes the Bavarian state
capital the second most important banking
center in the Federal Republic. Overall,
about 50 banks are headquartered here –
including two of Germany‘s largest banks,
Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank AG
(HVB), which in 2005 merged with the Ita-
lian UniCredit to form the first truly Euro-
pean bank, and Bayerische Landesbank. In
fact, about 160 banks, including numerous
foreign banks, are present in Munich. This
underscores the international significance
of the financial center.
Bavaria itself is the home market for around
530 banks, including more than 80 savings
banks and just under 370 cooperative
banks. This means well over 20 percent of
all German banks are based in Bavaria –
substantially more banks than in any other
federal state, and even more than in the
banking country, Switzerland. The banks
employ approximately 126,000 people.
Traditionally, Bavarian banks play a major
role in the mortgage business. For example,
Munich banks issued around one-third of
all mortgage bonds floated in Germany.
Number of financial institutions: 530
private banks: 80
savings banks: 80
credit unions: 370
Employees: 126.000
private banks: 32,000
saving banks: 58,000
credit unions: 36,000
Total assets: 984 bn. euros
Total loan volume: 730 bn. euros
* rounded data from 2004
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