By Erich C. Setzwein, Fürstenfeldbruck
If something accelerates in the Corona crisis, it is digitization. Whether it is the home office workplaces that are set up straight away in kitchens, living rooms or under dormer windows or the “contactless” payment at the supermarket checkout. In these and other areas, the results are visible and tangible. Commerzbank in Fürstenfeldbruck has also noticed this and pointed it out in its annual balance sheet press conference. In a conference call with the media, Ramona Bosch, head of the Fürstenfeldbruck, Dachau and Oberschleißheim market area, reported 140 new customers alone.
The fact that digitization will have other direct consequences for Commerzbank in the first place is shown by the planned reduction of branches in Germany by 2024. If there are currently around 750, the number should drop to 450. Ramona Bosch did not want to comment on whether Fürstenfeldbruck would also be affected. The bank’s committees would only deal with this in the second half of the year.
The direction in which the whole thing is going seems to be clear. More advice online and on the phone from advice centers that don’t need to be near the customer. Above all, the owners of private accounts should do even more online banking in the future, just like the corporate customers of the Bruck branch. According to the division manager, one hundred percent of them are only online at her bank. A total of 7757 customers in the Fürstenfeldbruck district entrust their financial transactions to Commerzbank. And more and more of them have discovered cashless payment, as the demand for new girocards with a payment function has shown.
It was corporate customers to whom the Bruck branch paid special attention in the first Corona year. When it became clear in March what consequences the lockdown would have, a “digital application process” was set up within 48 hours to quickly support customers in applying for and processing the necessary loans. Because suddenly there was a lack of sales and loans could no longer be serviced, more than 30,000 loans were “put on hold,” said Ramona Bosch. By the end of last year, loans with a total value of 3.3 billion euros had been deferred, and all the others except for 992 have now received payments again. In this way, the dealers in particular had created a safety cushion from March to June. New loans have also been applied for from the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) in the amount of 1.5 million euros, but so far only 1.3 million have been drawn. Bosch put the average loan amount per customer at 30,000 euros and commented: “That was applied for with a sense of proportion.”
However, digitization has accelerated not only among corporate customers, but also among private customers, as Ramona Bosch discovered. The proportion of those who operated online banking in the district has risen by 27 percent. Every fifth customer conducts his securities transactions from his smartphone, and many of them are under 25 years of age. Another trend that is currently consolidating.
Bosch explains why saving has increased – either in its classic form or in the investment of securities: “There was a little fearful saving involved.” She sees the fear of dismissal or short-time working as a trigger. However, the branch manager expects that the short-term savings will soon be spent again if there are shopping opportunities in the stationary trade.
Corona has brought the bank – and will continue to do so – customers who want a house in the countryside because of the weeks or months of insulation in an apartment. The total amount of construction financing is now 79 million euros. This corresponds to an increase of 8.2 percent in the past year. Borrowers are interested in “green mortgage lending”. Those who opt for it can expect an interest rate reduction. The demand for sustainable investments, especially from younger customers, has grown and is greater than before.
– .
