Association of German Banks
The Association of German Banks, in German Bundesverband deutscher Banken (BdB) or Bankenverband, is the association of the private banks in Germany. The Association of German Banks has 181 members, most of them private banks operating in Germany and 24 of them fintechs. The Association of German Banks's head office is in Berlin; 180 employees work in Berlin, Brussels and Frankfurt am Main.
The association was founded in 1951 in Cologne and moved its seat to Berlin in 1999. The Association of German Banks's task is to represent the interests of private banks wherever they go beyond a single regional association.
Members and regional associations
Members are large banks, regional banks, private bankers, German subsidiaries and branches of foreign banks, and fintechs as extraordinary members. Since a consolidation in 2021 the association has seven regional associations. The one for Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland is the Bankenverband Mitte in Frankfurt. Together with the Association of German Public Banks it represents Germany in the European Banking Federation.
The deposit protection fund
The Einlagensicherungsfonds, the deposit protection fund of the private banks, belongs to the association. The deposit protection fund was set up in 1975, after the failure of Herstatt Bank in 1974. The deposit protection fund protects deposits of private persons at member banks up to three million euros each and those of companies up to 30 million euros. The deposit protection fund comes on top of the statutory protection of 100,000 euros per depositor, which the Entschädigungseinrichtung deutscher Banken provides.
President and chief executive
The president is Christian Sewing, chief executive of Deutsche Bank. He has held the office since 1 July 2021 and was re-elected on 25 January 2024. The chief executive (Hauptgeschäftsführer) is Heiner Herkenhoff, in office since April 2023. Sarah Schmidtke has headed the Banks and Society division since 2023; she becomes CEO of Frankfurt Main Finance in February 2027.
Positions on the digital euro, money laundering and capital markets
In July 2026 the association published "Five success factors for the establishment of the digital euro". The Association of German Banks asks the EU Council and Parliament for a simpler design, an introduction in phases and a digital euro built on existing national and European payment solutions. For the EU Anti-Money Laundering Regulation 2024/1624, which applies from 10 July 2027, it works on a common know-your-customer standard of the industry. A paper of October 2026 deals with the European capital markets union.
Ombudsman, account search and SchulBanker
Customers of private banks can take a complaint to the ombudsman of the private banks free of charge. Heirs who do not know where a deceased person held accounts can ask the association to search its member banks. For schools the association runs SchulBanker, a game in which teams of students manage a fictional bank over six rounds and decide on loans, interest rates and marketing.
Upcoming finance events in Frankfurt
The Association of German Banks and Finance Loop
The digital euro, on which the association published its five success factors, is a topic of the Payments & Digital Money track of Finance Loop and of its partnership with the Digital Euro Association. The Bankenverband was a networking partner of the Euro Finance Tech Day 2026 in Frankfurt.
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the adoption of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, digital payments, cloud and blockchain solutions. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.