In a social climate increasingly characterised by despondency and division, German Savings Banks Association (DSGV) President Ulrich Reuter has invoked Germany's drive and efficiency, and called for the country to focus on its own strengths.

Reuter said at the 22nd Börsen-Zeitung Retail Banking Day on May 14 that it was up to politicians to revive the confidence that has been lost, and that the banking industry could also play its part. The savings banks have a responsibility to make the seemingly big tasks tangible and realisable on a small scale – for example helping people with housing. The discrepancy between the need to create 750,000 homes in Germany, and the estimate that possibly only 200,000 will be built this year, must be resolved by politicians – but the savings banks can help.

Political measures such as the designation of more building land, a reduction in bureaucracy, and the reduction or abolition of real estate transfer tax are needed. The savings banks could provide help here, by supporting builders and energy consultants, assisting with the development of properties, or involving their own experts on available subsidies.

The nationwide presence of the approximately 350 savings banks and around 280,000 employees of the entire S-Finanzgruppe, which also includes the Landesbanks and affiliated companies, and the fact that most ATMs can be reached within six minutes, also help to counteract a loss of trust among people, especially in structurally weak rural areas. Confidence in the strengths and opportunities of rural regions should be preserved. „This is why the savings banks remain committed to maintaining a nationwide presence, even if many of our customers now also utilise financial services digitally," said Reuter.

Reuter once again spoke out against EU plans to push ahead with a European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS). The savings banks and cooperative banks see this as a threat to the two financial groups' institutional protection schemes. EDIS would call into question the certainties and structures of the savings banks and cooperative banks, which are trusted by four-fifths of all retail customers in Germany, said Reuter. „Under the misunderstood label of Banking Union, this would pave the way for customer funds from the small-scale retail business of regional banks to be used to stabilise major international banks," he argued.

Reuter also criticised the revision of the bank resolution rules set out in the Crisis Management and Deposit Insurance (CMDI) framework review. This provides for the resolution rules for EU banks to be extended to non-systemically important financial institutions and, if the worst comes to the worst, easier access to the EU deposit guarantee scheme.

He also criticised Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel, who recently spoke in support of a hybrid model, combining national guarantee systems with support at EU level – should it become necessary. The Governor of the Austrian National Bank, Robert Holzmann, recently said that only those banks that had not done their homework were in favour of a joint deposit guarantee scheme, while the others were against it. „I would have liked to have heard such a message from our central bank, especially as we are talking about a lot more money here,“ said Reuter.