Is Germany overbanked? - Market structure and competition - Chrysanth Herr - E-Book

Is Germany overbanked? - Market structure and competition E-Book

Chrysanth Herr

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Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Business economics - Investment and Finance, grade: 1,3, European Business School - International University Schloß Reichartshausen Oestrich-Winkel, course: Seminar Retail Banking, language: English, abstract: German banks have come under pressure for their disappointing profitability. Indeed, rankings of developed nations along profitability indicators place Germany at the end of the scale. Critics attribute that situation mainly to the German banking system being overbanked and overbranched. The purpose of this paper is to analyze that notion and to examine the German market and competitive landscape of the retail banking industry. The analysis contains four sections. The first section compares profitability ratios and indicators of German banks to their peers’ performances. The study produces surprising results. Despite the ostensibly high branch density, Germany’s banks operate very cost efficiently. Yet it is their inability to generate sufficient income that results in the sluggish net earnings. Consequently, in the second section, the authors examine the German banking system and portray and compare its peculiarities in order to find out if the income problems are inherent to the system. More than in any other country, public banks dominate the market and, together with the cooperative banks, do not follow the economic principle of profit maximization. Moreover, the public banks have also received unjust government subsidies in the form of the maintenance and guarantee obligations. Thus, one presumes that private German banks operate in a very difficult system. The third section then takes a closer look at the market and analyzes the bank density, branch density and competition which the system produces. In the past, waves of intra-group consolidations have occurred. Similarly, branch networks have been thinned out especially by the private banks in an effort to cut costs. The result is that the current situation does not appear overly overbanked when put into perspective to the population, area, productivity and customer business. However, the German banking market is very competitive, and calls for further consolidations aim at decreasing competition rather than realizing synergies. In the fourth and last section, an appraisal of the current system is presented. Customers benefit from the current structure as it allows for easier access to credit compared to other countries, offers banking services to everybody at low costs and appears to be inherently stable. Thus, Germany is overbanked in the sense of high competition which negatively impacts bank profitability. Yet good companies should also be profitable in a competitive environment.

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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2006

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Table of Content
1 INTRODUCTION.
1.1 PROBLEM DEFINITION AND OBJECTIVES
1.2 COURSE OF ANALYSIS.
2 INTERNATIONAL PROFITABILITY COMPARISON.
2.1 PROFITABILITY OF THE BANKING SECTOR.
2.2 INCOME GENERATION OF THE BANKING SECTOR
2.3 COSTS OF THE BANKING SECTOR
3 GERMAN BANKING SYSTEM
3.1 OVERVIEW
3.2 COMMERCIAL BANKS.
3.3 SAVINGS BANKS
3.4 COOPERATIVE BANKS
4 MARKET ENVIRONMENT.
4.1 BANK DENSITY
4.2 BRANCH DENSITY
4.3 COMPETITION.
4.4 CALLS FOR FURTHER CONSOLIDATION
5 EVALUATION OF THE SYSTEM
5.1 CUSTOMER NEEDS
5.2 STABILITY OF THE GERMAN BANKING SYSTEM
5.3 LESSONS LEARNED FROM OTHER COUNTRIES
6 CONCLUDING REMARKS
List of Figures
List of Tables

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German banks have come under pressure for their disappointing profitability. Indeed, rankings of developed nations along profitability indicators place Germany at the end of the scale. Critics attribute that situation mainly to the German banking system being overbanked and overbranched. The purpose of this paper is to analyze that notion and to examine the German market and competitive landscape of the retail banking industry.

The analysis contains four sections. The first section compares profitability ratios and indicators of German banks to their peers’ performances. The study produces surprising results. Despite the ostensibly high branch density, Germany’s banks operate very cost efficiently. Yet it is their inability to generate sufficient income that results in the sluggish net earnings. Razor-thin interest margins and a lack of sufficient advisory business are responsible for the financial problems.

Consequently, in the second section, the authors examine the German banking system and portray and compare its peculiarities in order to find out if the income problems are inherent to the system. More than in any other country, public banks dominate the market and, together with the cooperative banks, do not follow the economic principle of profit maximization. Moreover, the public banks have also received unjust government subsidies in the form of the maintenance and guarantee obligations. Thus, one presumes that private German banks operate in a very difficult system.

The third section then takes a closer look at the market and analyzes the bank density, branch density and competition which the system produces. In the past, waves of intragroup consolidations have occurred, leading to a decrease of the number of banks by over 40%. Similarly, branch networks have been thinned out especially by the private banks in an effort to cut costs. The result is that the current situation does not appear overly overbanked when put into perspective to the population, area, productivity and customer business. However, the German banking market is very competitive, and calls for further consolidations aim at decreasing competition rather than realizing synergies.

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BdB Bundesverband deutscher Banken

BVR

DB Research Deutsche Bank Research

DSGV Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband

EBITDA

ECB European Central Bank

EU European Union

GDP Gross Domestic Product

IMF International Monetary Fund

KfW Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau

M&A Mergers and acquisitions

OECD

SME Small and medium sized enterprise

UK

US United States