Sparda-Bank


The Sparda-Banks in Germany are eleven cooperative banks which are consolidated in the Verband der Sparda-Banken e. V.. Traditionally they are specialized in the private banking business. The eleven, legally independent banks operate according to the regional principle, which means that each bank is responsible for a set business area and only accepts customers from that area.

Development

The oldest Sparda-Bank was founded on 6 May 1896 as Spar- und Vorschuss-Verein der badischen Eisenbahnbeamten in Karlsruhe. Based on this model equal cooperatives were founded in other places, which, in the spring of 1906, consolidated in the Revisionsverband der Eisenbahn-Spar- und Darlehnskassen in Kassel.
In 1969 the railroad savings banks were opened for staff of other public services and in 1974 for all employees. Since 1978 the banks uniformly call themselves Sparda-Banks.
In the center of its business activities is the standardized private banking. Customers purchase at least one cooperative share and are therefore, together with other customers, members and part owners of the bank. For the cooperative shares an annual dividend is paid.

Check account

The Sparda-Banks check account is free of charge for members as wage, salary or retirement account. However, since 2015, Sparda-Banks charge annually different amounts for the Bankcard.

Cooperative

The following Sparda-Banks are consolidated in the Verband der Sparda-Banken e. V. which as auditing association is responsible for the statutory audits according to the cooperative bill:
The Sparda-Banks are members in the National Association of German Cooperative Banks and its protection scheme. The Sparda-Banks are together with other banks part of CashPool. A few Sparda-Banks have agreements for a free of charge cash withdrawal at Postbank ATMs.

Business figures

In sum the total assets of all Sparda-Banks was 68.9 billion Euros in 2016. At the end of 2016 the number of all members of Sparda-Banks was 3.6 million.