The motto „thoroughness before speed“ is part of the savings banks' DNA. They have done well with this for a long time, and have been able to hold their own against the direct banks that were launched in the 1990s. However, further digitalisation with the emergence of neobanks and neobrokers has called old certainties into question – and the Sparkassen are now facing up to this by fully integrating securities trading into apps.

The triumphant advance of neobrokers and the general rise in share investors should have triggered decisions in the DSGV (German Savings Banks Association) much earlier. This is because the savings banks have been realising for some time that business is migrating: According to data from PwC, over the ten years to the end of 2024, the Sparkassen and Landesbanken have lost 5 percentage points of their former 26% marketshare in trading via securities accounts. It is little consolation that the cooperative sector is in an even worse position, slipping from 36% to 20%.

This makes it clear: the two large financial groups have a problem and need to act together to strengthen their competitiveness. The DSGV's latest resolutions are in line with this: firstly, the decision was made to offer customers crypto trading as a self-directed investor service, and for DekaBank to build the infrastructure for this. The DSGV committees also decided to invest in the securities custody account structure. Deka was also commissioned to develop a platform with a standardised securities account that can be integrated into the Sparkassen app.

Deka, with its 5.7 million depots, won the internal beauty contest against DWP Bank, which manages 2 million savings bank securities accounts. These dual structures are likely to remain in place for the time being, as attempts at consolidation at the securities account level have come to nothing. But so be it, the main thing is that things are now really moving forwards, and trading shares and ETFs will be as convenient for savings bank customers as with the neobrokers.

The strategic embedding of securities trading is fundamental for the savings banks. This is because neobrokers are now also integrating the account and deposit business as well as the card business. The combination of accounts and securities accounts taking place there is chipping away at the core of the savings banks, which is alarming. The Sparkassen must now launch a counterattack that works.

It's hard to imagine where the savings banks would be in the securities business today if they had let S-Broker off the leash back then. It was deprived of its freedom in 2016 and integrated into DekaBank because the local institutions did not want S-Broker to earn commission from their customers. This was a very short-sighted decision, as it would have been possible to find an operating structure that would have safeguarded the interests of the local savings banks. As it was, however, the savings banks remained an ugly duckling in retail trading, and left the playing field to the neobrokers, who are delighted that savings bank customers open securities accounts with them and allocate their capital there bit by bit. This danger has now been recognised, but the game is far from over.