Foreign bank

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Foreign banks is banking the generic term for branches of foreign banks in Germany and for banks that are majority- owned by banks with headquarters in other countries are.

General

The aggregate of foreign banks was introduced by the Deutsche Bundesbank in its banking statistics in January 1987 after the German financial center had increasingly attracted foreign credit institutions. For the first time, it combined the branches and subsidiaries to form the group of "foreign banks". While there were still 76 representative offices, 29 branches and 12 subsidiary banks in March 1972, in December 1986 these numbers had risen to 168 representative offices, 64 branches and 48 subsidiary banks from 64 countries. Foreign banks usually settled here in order to accompany the companies from their home country to Germany . This is also the main reason why, conversely, German banks set up branches or subsidiaries abroad.

species

In its banking statistics, the Deutsche Bundesbank first names the main aggregate of “foreign banks”, which is made up of the “majority owned foreign banks” and the “branches of foreign banks” group. Sub-aggregate here are the “banks in the majority ownership of foreign banks”, which are legally independent and mostly have a German legal form . By contrast, branches are legally dependent assets of foreign institutions. A purely domestic bank can become a foreign bank if its majority ownership changes abroad (as was the case with Hypovereinsbank in August 2005 ). Representative offices of foreign banks do not conduct any banking business, as their main task is maintaining contacts and public relations . From the point of view of domestic credit institutions, their foreign correspondent banks are also foreign banks .

Legal issues

If a foreign bank conducts banking business in Germany , it is classified as a credit institution or CRR credit institution under Section 1 (1) KWG and requires a banking license from BaFin under Section 32 KWG . These provisions do not differentiate between domestic and foreign banks, so that all KWG standards also apply to the latter. If a company domiciled abroad has a branch in Germany that conducts banking business or provides financial services, the branch counts as a credit institution or financial services institution according to Section 53 (1) KWG . According to this, branches of foreign banks are treated like independent banks for regulatory purposes. Then, at least two of the branch natural persons with residence to order in Germany that the Board authorized the branch office (§ 53 para. 2 No. 1 KWG.). This regulation contains further requirements for foreign branches, such as their obligation to keep separate accounts (Section 53 (2) No. 2 KWG).

In contrast to section 53 KWG, section 53a KWG does not contain any reference to the applicability of the KWG for representative offices; you do not have to apply for a banking license. According to Section 53a KWG, bank representatives may only operate in the context of maintaining contacts and advertising if their foreign parent company is authorized to conduct banking business in their home country. The representative offices may not provide banking and / or financial services that require authorization, and in particular may not be involved in the initiation, conclusion or processing of banking transactions and financial services. Such physical branches in Germany must be limited to representative functions. In addition, they are not allowed to conduct proprietary trading under any circumstances , because they are then considered a subsidiary or branch and are subject to the requirements of Sections 32 and 53 KWG.

Since 1995, branches of institutes based in the European Economic Area have been allowed to conduct banking business or provide financial services in Germany without permission from BaFin without the permission of BaFin , if they have been approved by the competent authorities of the home member state. For these companies from the EEA states - subject to the requirements of Section 53b KWG (notification procedure / European passport) - in addition to the option of setting up a branch (Section 53b (2) KWG), there is also the option of conducting cross-border transactions that require a permit Trade in services - without a corresponding domestic presence - (Section 53b (2a) KWG). Their deposits are secured by the deposit insurance of their country of origin.

Branch offices of institutions in third countries are subject to the regulation of Section 53c KWG, which authorizes the Federal Minister of Finance to issue a statutory ordinance . You need a permit as a subsidiary (Section 32 (1) KWG in conjunction with Section 33 (1) No. 6 KWG) or as a branch (Section 32 (1) KWG in conjunction with Section 53 KWG). If a subsidiary of a foreign credit institute does not receive approval from the foreign supervisory authority responsible for this institute for the establishment of the subsidiary, the banking license is to be denied in Germany in accordance with Section 33 (1) No. 8 KWG.

meaning

The market share of the foreign banks (measured in terms of business volume ) in the entire German banking system was 4% in December 1971, of which 1.7% was accounted for by branches and 0.3% by subsidiary institutions. Due to the increasing importance of foreign banks, the Association of Foreign Banks in Germany was founded in March 1982 . On the basis of the balance sheet total , the market share of foreign banks reached 12.9% (2012), which is mainly due to the inclusion of HypoVereinsbank in this segment. In 2010, nine foreign banks were among the ten largest issuing banks in Germany; the share of foreign banks in mergers and acquisitions mandates was 47% in 2007, and in 2005 the share of bond issues was 41%. In the factoring market, an estimated 50% of sales come from companies that are subsidiaries of foreign parents.

In consumer finance foreign banks operating their market shares often by acquiring domestic partial payment banks expanded. Citibank , which acquired the customer credit bank (now Targobank ) , was the pioneer in 1973 . This was followed in 1998 by Creditplus Bank , which was taken over by Crédit Agricole . The activities of Banco Santander were initially limited to supporting Spanish companies in Germany; However, it then took over CC-Bank in 1987 , then in 2002 the Cologne-based AKB Privat- und Handelsbank , Germany's largest brand-independent automotive leasing bank . Finally, in July 2008, she took over the consumer credit business of the Royal Bank of Scotland and in March 2008 carried out the merger of GE Money Bank . The Société Générale in turn acquired the majority in the Hanseatic Bank in 2005 .

In December 2015 there were 142 foreign banks with total assets of 944.2 billion euros.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Deutsche Bundesbank, Monthly Report January 1987 , p. 32.
  2. ^ Deutsche Bundesbank, Monthly Report January 1987 , p. 34.
  3. ↑ Oliver Everling / Karl-Heinz Goedeckemeyer (eds.), Bankenrating: Normative Bankenordnung in der Finanzmarktkrise , 2015, p. 76.
  4. ↑ Deutsche Bundesbank, Banking Statistics , January 2016, p. 111
  5. ↑ a b BaFin dated April 1, 2005, information sheet - information on the licensing requirement according to section 32 (1) KWG in conjunction with section 1 (1) and (1a) KWG for cross-border banking transactions and / or cross-border financial services
  6. ↑ Horst-Peter Götting / Urs Peter Gruber / Jörn Lüdemann u. a., International Business Law , 2015, p. 682
  7. ↑ Burkhardt Röper / Helmut Martin Moser, Competition Problems in the Credit Industry , 1976, p. 106
  8. ↑ a b Thomas Hartmann-Wendels: How important foreign banks are for the German financial market , in: Börsen-Zeitung No. 185 of September 25, 2010, p. 19 ( Memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )