The German public banking sector (german: Öffentliches Kreditwesen) represents a significant share of the broader banking sector in Germany. Unlike in most other Western and Central European countries, German public-sector banks have been present since the early phases of formalization of banking entities in the early modern period and have never lost their collective significance. They are typically referred to as one of the three “pillars” of the German banking system, the other two pillars being the

cooperative bank Cooperative banking is retail and commercial banking organized on a cooperative basis. Cooperative banking institutions take deposits and lend money in most parts of the world. Cooperative banking, as discussed here, includes retail banking carr ...

s and commercial banks. Following many steps of development, consolidation, and restructuring, the German public banking sector (leaving aside the

Deutsche Bundesbank The Deutsche Bundesbank (), literally "German Federal Bank", is the central bank of the Federal Republic of Germany and as such part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). Due to its strength and former size, the Bundesbank is the most ...

) consists mainly of two clusters: the

Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe The ''Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe'' ("Savings Banks Financial Group") is a network of public banks that together form the largest financial services group in Germany and in all of Europe. Its name refers to local government-controlled savings banks t ...

, which competes with commercial and cooperative banks and includes local savings banks (german: Sparkassen) and regional entities (german: Landesbanken); and promotional and development banks (german: Förderbanken) owned by the Federal Republic of Germany (in the case of KfW) or the individual states of Germany.

History

Government-owned banks are among the oldest financial institutions in Germany, with several appearing in the late 18th century simultaneously as the first municipally-owned savings banks. Throughout the 19th century, governments of individual states or

provinces of Prussia The Provinces of Prussia (german: Provinzen Preußens) were the main administrative divisions of Prussia from 1815 to 1946. Prussia's province system was introduced in the Stein-Hardenberg Reforms in 1815, and were mostly organized from duchies a ...

established (respectively) and to lend to various kinds of borrowers, including Sparkassen but not limited to them. Unlike in most European countries where banking was an exclusive activity of the private sector, government-owned banks thus remained a structural feature of the German financial system, even as joint-stock gained relative importance in the second half of the century. The beginning of the 20th century saw the emergence of a number of acting as centralizing entities for their region's Sparkassen, a trend that was greatly accelerated by government policy choices during World War I even though it had started slightly earlier; numerous episodes of consolidation followed, leading to the current Landesbank landscape. By 1929, government-owned banks accounted for at least 40 percent of all banking assets in Germany. That feature set Germany apart from other European countries in which, aside from the Soviet Union of course, the bulk of the banking sector was in private-sector hands. As a consequence of the

European banking crisis of 1931 The European banking crisis of 1931 was a major episode of financial instability that peaked with the collapse of several major banks in Austria and Germany, including Creditanstalt on , Landesbank der Rheinprovinz on , and Danat-Bank on . It tri ...

, further German banks were nationalized, but they were soon reprivatized in 1935–1937 by Nazi Germany. Still, by 1938, government-owned banks represented 42 percent (in terms of aggregated assets) of the 25 largest banks in Germany, not counting those in annexed Austria. These included the Prussian and Bavarian , , Reichs-Kredit-Gesellschaft, Deutschlandkasse,

Deutsche Girozentrale DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale is the central provider of asset management and capital market solutions of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe. It is registered in both Frankfurt and Berlin, with main operational headquarters in Frankfurt. It traces its ...

, and eight regional , namely those in Düsseldorf (serving the Rhineland), Dresden (Saxony), Munich (Bavaria), Magdeburg (central Germany), Berlin (city), Hanover (Lower Saxony), Berlin (Brandenburg), and Breslau (Silesia). (The other 11 banks in the top 25 were Deutsche Bank,

Dresdner Bank Dresdner Bank AG was a German bank and was based in Frankfurt. It was one of Germany's largest banking corporations and was acquired by competitor Commerzbank in May 2009. History 19th century The Dresdner Bank was established on 12 Novemb ...

, Bank der Deutschen Arbeit,

Commerzbank Commerzbank AG () is a major German bank operating as a universal bank, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. In the 2019 financial year, the bank was the second largest in Germany by the total value of its balance sheet. Founded in 1870 in Hambur ...

, the indirectly government-owned Deutsche Verkehrs-Kredit-Bank, cooperative

Deutsche Rentenbank-Kreditanstalt Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank is Germany's development agency for agribusiness and rural areas. The bank has its registered office in Frankfurt am Main. In 2019 it will be 70 years since it was founded. With its low-interest loans, Rentenbank p ...

, Bayerische Hypotheken- und Wechsel-Bank, Deutsche Centralbodenkredit AG, part-government-owned Deutsche Industriebank and Deutsche Bau- und Bodenbank, and Bayerische Vereinsbank.) By 1943, the share had risen to 54 percent. With the delineation of West Germany's between 1948 and 1957, the Landesbanks started acting as "house banks" of their respective , thus expanding into some of largest foreign issuers in Germany. By the early 21st century, other European countries that had nationalized swathes of their banking sectors in the 1930s and 1940s had mostly brought them back into the private sector, and Germany again stood out for the large share of its banking sector under government control, a situation that has not much changed in the subsequent two decades. The emerged more recently as a distinct category. KfW was established in 1948 and a few regional promotional banks in the early 1950s, but in most German states they were created (in Eastern Germany) or spun off from the local Landesbank (in the West) in the 1990s and 2000s. The German public banking sector has witnessed numerous episodes of distress, in part because of its inherently politicized governance. In mid-1931, the default of the Landesbank der Rheinprovinz, following aggressive and uncontrolled expansion of its credit to German municipalities, was a major trigger of Germany's economic depression, even though other Landesbanken such as the survived the episode largely unscathed. Other cases of major difficulties have included the troubles of Westdeutsche Landesbank (WestLB) in the 1970s;

Bankgesellschaft Berlin Landesbank Berlin Holding (formerly ''Bankgesellschaft Berlin''; ) is a large commercial bank based in Berlin, Germany. It is the holding company of the Berliner Sparkasse and Landesbank. In 2007, LBB was taken over by the Deutscher Sparkassen- u ...

in the early 2000s; and (again) WestLB in 2007–2008; and HSH Nordbank and NORD/LB in the 2010s. The following lists detail the path of formation of the current landscape, which has tended to be understudied because of its complexity and heterogeneity. For relative readability, developments are classified in broad geographical categories, and individual are omitted. The list also omits various state financial entities set up at the time of Nazi Germany and discontinued in 1945.

National entities

* 1895: , also known as the Preussenkasse, established in Berlin to facilitate the funding of local agricultural cooperative banking throughout Prussia, with capital provided by the Prussian state * 1918:

(DGZ) established in Berlin * 1922: Reichs-Kredit-Gesellschaft (RKG) established in Berlin * 1923: Deutsche Rentenbank established in Berlin to address hyperinflation ** Deutsche Bau- und Bodenbank established to finance low-income housing ** Deutsche Verkehrs-Kredit-Bank established as a subsidiary of the state-owned Deutsche Reichsbahn * 1924: Deutsche Industriebank (initially ) founded to act as a trustee for the revenues collected from German industry under the Dawes Plan * 1925:

established in Berlin to take over the Deutsche Rentenbank's agricultural credit portfolio * 1932: renamed as , or Deutschlandkasse * 1931: The German government becomes owner of equity stakes in distressed commercial banks including

(97 percent), Commerz- und Privatbank (71 percent), (70 percent), (67 percent), and Deutsche Bank (38.5 percent) * 1935-1937: the commercial banks nationalized in 1931 are reprivatized * 1945: All banks in the Soviet occupation zone, including DGZ, RKG and Deutschlandkasse, ordered to stop their operations by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany * 1948: Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) established in Frankfurt * 1949: DGZ recreated in Düsseldorf, and Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank established as a public bank in Frankfurt. (DGK) is also recreated but without government ownership * 1950: established in Bonn, later renamed (1952), (1954) and eventually (1986) * 1956: (Deka) established in Frankfurt * 1965: DGZ relocated in Frankfurt * 1995: Cooperative DZ Bank acquires majority ownership of the former * 1999:

DekaBank DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale is the central provider of asset management and capital market solutions of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe. It is registered in both Frankfurt and Berlin, with main operational headquarters in Frankfurt. It traces its ...

formed by merger of DGZ and Deka * 2003: KfW takes over * 2011:

DSGV The Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband (DSGV, ) is the association of German savings banks (german: Sparkassen) and the apex entity of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe, the European Union's second-largest financial services group (after BNP Pariba ...

acquires sole ownership of Dekabank

Berlin and Eastern Germany

* 1765: Prussian Royal Bank (german: Königliche Hauptbank) established in Berlin * 1772: established in Berlin; renamed as Prussian State bank (german: Preussische Staatsbank) in 1918 * 1792: established in

Altenburg Altenburg () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located south of Leipzig, west of Dresden and east of Erfurt. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district and part of a polycentric old-industrial textile and metal production region betw ...

* 1847: Prussian Royal Bank replaced by the Bank of Prussia, a nominally private-sector institution ** established in Merseburg ** established in

Dessau Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Roßlau ...

* 1849: established in

Meiningen Meiningen () is a town in the southern part of the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in the region of Franconia and has a population of around 25,000 (2021).

* 1909: established in Dresden (later * 1915: established in Magdeburg * 1916: established in Breslau * 1919: established in Leipzig; relocated in 1920 to Dresden * 1922: established in Weimar * 1923: takes over the Landesbank in Altenburg, Landesbank in Rudolstadt, , and the in the former Gera- Greiz area * 1924: established in Berlin * 1925: established in Berlin * 1927: established in Berlin * 1928: formed by merger of and , with head office in Magdeburg * 1932: acquired by * 1937: restructured as ; the construction and property management operations are spun off as (GSW) * 1945: All banks in the Soviet occupation zone ordered to end their operations by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany * 1949 (WBK) recreated in West Berlin * 1950: established in Berlin * 1973: , later known as

Berlin Hyp The Berlin Hyp AG, based in Berlin, is one of the large German real estate and mortgage banks. The bank was created in 1996 from the merger of ''Berliner Hypotheken- und Pfandbriefbank AG'' and ''Braunschweig-Hannoversche Hypothekenbank AG''. The ...

, formed by combination of the West Berlin operations of Prussian State Bank, , and other entities * 1990:

Landesbank Berlin Landesbank Berlin Holding (formerly ''Bankgesellschaft Berlin''; ) is a large commercial bank based in Berlin, Germany. It is the holding company of the Berliner Sparkasse and Landesbank. In 2007, LBB was taken over by the Deutscher Sparkassen- u ...

established in Berlin ** Sächsische Aufbaubank established in Leipzig by * 1992: established in Leipzig, Saxony **

Investitionsbank des Landes Brandenburg Investitionsbank des Landes Brandenburg (ILB) is the regional promotional bank (german: Förderbank) for the German state of Brandenburg. It was established in 1992 and is headquartered in Potsdam. Together with other and the more commercially ...

(ILB) established in Potsdam ** Thüringer Aufbaubank established in

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits in ...

* 1993: renamed as

Investitionsbank Berlin The Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB) is a development bank and central promotional institute of the state of Berlin. The aim of the funding is the Berlin economy and housing construction. The main task of IBB is business development of small and ...

** Landesförderinstitut Sachsen-Anhalt established in Magdeburg * 1994: formed as a holding company bringing together Landesbank Berlin, Berliner Bank and

** Landesförderinstitut Mecklenburg-Vorpommern established in Schwerin * 1998: Sächsische Aufbaubank ownership transferred from L-Bank to the state of Saxony * 2004: transformed into

Investitionsbank Sachsen-Anhalt Investitionsbank Sachsen-Anhalt (IB) is the regional promotional bank (german: Förderbank) in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It was established in 2004, initially as , and is headquartered in Magdeburg Together with other german: Förderb ...

(IB) * 2007: Troubled acquired by the

and renamed Landesbank Berlin Holding File:LandeskreditMeiningen.jpg, Former head office of , 2009 File:Löhrs Carré Leipzig.JPG, Former SachsenLB head office in Leipzig, 2007

Northwestern Germany

* 1619:

Hamburger Bank The Hamburger Bank was a public credit institution founded in 1619 by the Free City of Hamburg. It operated independently until 31 December 1875, when it became part of the newly created Reichsbank. History The Hamburg City Council made the dec ...

established in Hamburg * 1765: established in Braunschweig * 1825: established in Hanover * 1840: established in Hanover * 1875: taken over by the Bank of Prussia * 1883: established in

Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to: Places *Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica *Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany **Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony *Olde ...

, renamed in 1906 and in 1922 * 1917: established in Kiel ** established in Hanover * 1918: established in Hanover * 1919: renamed * 1928: established in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

* 1933: renamed * 1938: formed by merger of and ** established in Bremen ** (HLB) established in Hamburg * 1951:

Bremer Aufbau-Bank Bremer Aufbau-Bank (BAB) is the regional promotional bank (german: Förderbank) of the German state of Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is th ...

(BAB) established in Bremen * 1952: established in Hamburg, renamed (WK) in 1973 * 1970: Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (later branded as NORD/LB) formed by merger of , , , , and ) * 1983: (also known as Bremer Landesbank, or BLB) formed by merger of and * 2001: Investitionsbank Schleswig-Holstein (IB.SH) established in Kiel * 2003:

HSH Nordbank AG Hamburg Commercial Bank (formerly HSH Nordbank) is a commercial bank in northern Europe with headquarters in Hamburg as well as Kiel, Germany. It is active in corporate and private banking. Considered to be the world’s largest provider of maritim ...

formed by merger of and , with joint head offices in Hamburg and Kiel * 2004:

Investitions- und Förderbank Niedersachsen Investitions- und Förderbank Niedersachsen (NBank) is the regional promotional bank (german: Förderbank) for the German state of Lower Saxony. It was established in 2004 and is headquartered in Hanover. Together with other and the more comme ...

(NBank) established in Hanover * 2005: Hamburgische Investitions- und Förderbank (IFB Hamburg) established in Hamburg * 2013: IFB Hamburg takes over * 2017: BLB merged into NORD/LB * 2019: HSH Nordbank privatized and renamed Hamburg Commercial Bank; Landesbank role in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein taken up by NORD/LB File:Dankwardstraße 1 Braunschweig 20170921 001.jpg, building on in Braunschweig, head office of until 1966 File:BreLaBa-Bau1896.jpg, 1896 building of the , head office of in

from 1938 to the 2010s File:Office building Landeskreditanstalt Schiffgraben 6 Mitte Hannover Germany 01.jpg, Building at Schiffgraben 6 in Hanover, head office of from 1914 to 1970; later seat of the regional File:Gebäude der HSH-Nordbank.jpg, Building at Martendamm 4 in Kiel, head office of (1954–2003), HSH Nordbank (2003–2019), and Hamburg Commercial Bank (since 2019) File:Office Building Nord LB Georgsplatz.jpg, Building at Georgsplatz 2 in Hanover, head office of from 1958 to 1970, then of NORD/LB until 2002 File:Office Building Highrise Nord LB Georgsplatz 02a.jpg, High-rise wing of the former complex in Hanover File:Nord LB BS.jpg, Former building or in Braunschweig, head office of (1966–1970), Nord/LB (1970–2002), then (since 2008) File:Nord-LB office building Aegidientorplatz Hannover Germany.jpg, opened in 2002 in Hanover File:Bremer Landesbank 2016-08.jpg, Former Bremer Landesbank head office in Bremen, inaugurated in 2016 a year before the bank's absorption by NORD/LB

Western-central Germany

* 1832: established in Münster, sometimes referred to as the first Landesbank ** established in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

* 1840: established in Wiesbaden, reorganized in 1849 as * 1854: established in Cologne; relocated in 1877 to Düsseldorf, and renamed in 1888 Landesbank der Rheinprovinz * 1890: renamed * 1903: established in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

* 1914: becomes the payments clearing house (german: Girozentrale) for the savings banks in the , in substitution of the which had taken up that role in 1911 for the

Rhine Province The Rhine Province (german: Rheinprovinz), also known as Rhenish Prussia () or synonymous with the Rhineland (), was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822 to 1946. It ...

of Prussia * 1921: established in Münster * 1923: established in Darmstadt * 1929: established in Darmstadt * 1931: in distress, suspends payments despite emergency liquidity assistance from

Preussische Staatsbank The Prussian State Bank was a state-owned entity that played a significant role in the economy of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was founded in 1772 as a shipping company, the ''Seehandlungsgesellschaft'' or simply ''Seehandlung'', intended to boos ...

and the Reichsbank; clearing house role transferred to the Cologne branch of the

* 1935: renamed * 1940: formed by merger of , , and , with seat in

* 1941: established in

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; french: link=no, Sarrebruck ; Rhine Franconian: ''Saarbrigge'' ; lb, Saarbrécken ; lat, Saravipons, lit=The Bridge(s) across the Saar river) is the capital and largest city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken is S ...

, renamed in 1946 (also known as Landesbank Saar, later SaarLB) * 1943: formed by merger of and * 1948: established in

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; Palatinate German: ''Lautre'') is a city in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfur ...

* 1951: Saarländische Investitionskreditbank established in Saarbrücken * 1953: (Helaba) formed by merger of Kassel, , and , with seat in Frankfurt * 1958: (LRP) formed by merger of the branch of the in

Koblenz Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman mili ...

, that of the in Mainz and , with seat in Mainz * 1969:

Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale WestLB AG (derived from ''Westdeutsche Landesbank'', i.e. "Western German state Bank") was a European commercial bank based in Düsseldorf, Germany which was mainly owned by the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Landesbanks are a group of par ...

(WestLB) formed by merger of and , with joint head offices in Düsseldorf and Münster and branches in Cologne,

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

, Bielefeld, and

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

* 1972: WestLB starts its international expansion by opening a branch in Luxembourg, followed by London in 1973 and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in 1975 * 2002: WestLB spins off NRW.Bank, converts itself into a joint-stock company as WestLB AG, and sells its private banking business to

Merck Finck Privatbankiers The private bank Merck Finck Privatbankiers AG, founded in 1870, is based in Munich and is also represented nationwide with a total of 16 locations. Since 2011, it has been a subsidiary of the Luxembourg bank KBL European Private Bankers (KLB), wh ...

** , known as (WI-Bank) established in Frankfurt and

Offenbach am Main Offenbach am Main () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Hesse, Germany, on the left bank of the river Main (river), Main. It borders Frankfurt and is part of the Frankfurt urban area and the larger Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Aut ...

* 2004: Investitions- und Strukturbank Rheinland-Pfalz established in Mainz * 2012: WestLB dismantled with assets transferred to Portigon Financial Services; Landesbank role in North Rhine-Westphalia taken up by Helaba File:Naspa2.JPG, Former in Wiesbaden File:Landesbank Rheinprovinz Theaterstraße.jpg, Former branch of in

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

File:NRW-Bank Münster.JPG, Former Landesbank der Provinz Westfalen in Münster File:Geschäfts- und Verwaltungsgebäude Ständeplatz 17 in Kassel.jpg, Landeskreditkasse building in

File:20110726Ursulinenstr2 Saarbruecken2.jpg, SaarLB head office in Saarbrücken, 2011 File:Landesbank Rheinland Pfalz.jpg, Former LRP head office in Mainz, 2015 File:Düsseldorf-Friedrichstadt WestLB.JPG, Building at Herzogstrasse 15 in Düsseldorf, built 1974–1986, head office of WestLB until 2012, now commercial complex File:MuensterLBSWest.jpg, WestLB branch in Münster from 1975 to 2002, later head office of the regional File:Dortmund Kampstraße 45 47 ehemalige WestLB Dortmund.jpg, WestLB branch in

from 1978 to 2010, repurposed in 2014 as File:Gebäude 01 klein.jpg, NRW.Bank head office in Düsseldorf File:Maintower Frankfurt.jpg, Helaba head office in Frankfurt, 2012

Southern Germany

* 1780: established in Ansbach, successively renamed as (1806), (1807), in Munich (1875), and Bayerische Staatsbank (1918) * 1818: established in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

as national savings bank of the Kingdom of Württemberg * 1884: established in Munich ** established in Stuttgart * 1914: founded, permanently established in 1917 in Nuremberg and relocated in 1920 in Munich * 1916: established in Stuttgart, later renamed * 1923: Württembergische Notenbank (est. 1871 in Stuttgart) becomes government-owned * 1924: established in Stuttgart; renamed in 1932 ** established in Karlsruhe * 1925: reorganized and renamed * 1929: established in Mannheim * 1931: Bank of Baden (est. 1870 in Mannheim) becomes government-owned; relocated to Karlsruhe in 1932 * 1934: Bank of Baden and deprived of their note-issuing role and repurposed as commercial entities; the latter renamed (also known as ) in 1935 * 1949: renamed (Bayern Labo) * 1951: LfA Förderbank Bayern established in Munich * 1971: Bayerische Staatsbank privatized and acquired by Bayerische Vereinsbank * 1972: Bayerische Landesbank Girozentrale (BayernLB) formed by merger of and ** formed by merger of and * 1975: formed by merger of and , renamed in 1977 * 1978: (BW-Bank) formed by merger of Bank of Baden, and private-sector , with seat in Stuttgart * 1988: (SüdwestLB) formed by merger of and , with seat in Stuttgart * 1998: Landeskreditbank Baden-Württemberg – Förderbank (L-Bank) formed from the development finance activities of * 1999:

Landesbank Baden-Württemberg Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) is a universal bank and the Landesbank for some Federal States of Germany (Baden-Württemberg, Rheinland-Pfalz, Sachsen). As of 2018, it is Germany's biggest state-backed landesbank lender. LBBW is a full-serv ...

(LBBW) formed by merger of SüdwestLB, and the commercial activities of * 2005: BW-Bank merged into LBBW File:20180925Augustaanlage 33 Mannheim6.jpg, Former head office of in Mannheim, 2018 File:BW-Bank Heilbronn Allee.jpg, BW-Bank in

Heilbronn Heilbronn () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, surrounded by Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn District. With over 126,000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. From the late Mid ...

, 2007 File:BW-Bank am Kleinen Schlossplatz Stuttgart 2013.jpg, BW-Bank in

, 2013 File:Landesbank Stuttgart AmHbf2.jpg, LBBW head office in Stuttgart, 2007 File:Brienner Str. 16 Muenchen-1.jpg, BayernLB head office in Munich, 2013 File:Löwe vor der BayernLB Brienner Straße München.jpg, Lion statue in front of BayernLB head office in Munich, 2009 File:Briennerstr. 18 Glasbrunnen Muenchen-4.jpg, Courtyard of BayernLB head office in Munich, 2014

Cross-regional consolidation

* 1992: takes up Landesbank role in Thuringia, and is renamed while keeping the shorthand name Helaba ** NORD/LB takes up Landesbank role in Saxony-Anhalt * 1993: NORD/LB takes up Landesbank role in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern * 2001: BayernLB acquires majority control of SaarLB * 2005: LRP merged into LBBW * 2007: SachsenLB acquired by LBBW * 2010-2013: Saarland acquires control of SaarLB from BayernLB

National representation

Two overlapping organizations represent the German public banking sector: the Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband (DSGV), the umbrella organization for the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe; and the

Association of German Public Banks The Association of German Public Banks (german: Bundesverband Öffentlicher Banken Deutschlands, generally referred to as VÖB) is a leading association within the German banking sector, bringing together most of the German public banking sector ...

, which brings together the Landesbanks (also members of the DSGV) and the .

References

{{reflist Banks of Germany Public finance of Germany Government-owned companies of Germany Banking organizations