Frankfurt financial center charter
The Frankfurt financial center charter is a voluntary agreement on cooperation between financial institutions, public authorities and other organizations in Frankfurt and the surrounding region. The Frankfurt financial center charter accompanies the financial center strategy and sets expectations for joint work, public communication and coordination through Frankfurt Main Finance.
The charter gives organizations with different responsibilities a common basis for strengthening the Frankfurt financial center. Connecting banks, universities and regional innovation hubs can bring research, financial expertise and new technologies into the same discussion. That regional cooperation also supports Frankfurt's wider dialogue with European financial centers and the development of a connected European capital market.
What participants agree to do
The charter sets three principles. Participants contribute work and expertise to the financial center's development, use agreed messages and data when representing Frankfurt, and accept a coordinating role for Frankfurt Main Finance where needed.
The first principle concerns practical contributions. An organization can join a working group, help carry out a measure or contribute to an event within its available resources. The charter leaves that contribution to the participant; it specifies neither a common budget nor a fixed allocation of work.
Shared messages without a single decision-maker
For public communication, the participants aim to use common facts and coordinated messages on selected financial center topics. Examples include employment figures and the number of financial institutions. Frankfurt Main Finance supplies central data, while participating organizations keep their own operations and responsibilities.
The same principle covers information about events and support for mutual attendance. The shared approach can help an international delegation encounter consistent information about Frankfurt when speaking with different organizations. The shared approach does not mean every bank or association adopts identical positions on every regulatory proposal.
The association's coordination role
Frankfurt Main Finance can coordinate joint work when it is needed and support measures where it has the capacity. The association's members aim to expand its office resources and membership. Frankfurt Main Finance's governing body reviews the strategic objectives and coordinates revisions when necessary.
Progress is part of that job. Frankfurt Main Finance is responsible for making implementation visible, and supporters contribute information about the measures they carry out themselves. The Frankfurt financial center report provides a separate account of the financial center's development and policy priorities.
Signing, funding and future positions
The agreement creates no enforceable rights or legal obligations. A signature expresses support for cooperation and the shared objective. A signature does not provide blanket consent to later position papers or financial contributions.
An organization therefore decides separately whether to support a proposal or take part in a project. The charter is not a grant program, and signing is not an application for public funding. Any specific financing or contractual arrangement would need its own terms.
Charter, strategy and cabinet
The Hesse Financial Center Cabinet is the forum for dialogue between state government and finance. The strategy sets the subjects for work: business conditions, regulation, technology, sustainable finance, education and communication. The charter sets how participants cooperate on that work. These are separate functions.
The cabinet adopted the strategy and charter together (in German). The DVFA helped develop the strategy and signed the charter (in German). These examples show participation by public and professional bodies; the charter is not membership in a new regulator.
Adoption and signatories
The Hesse Financial Center Cabinet adopted the strategy and charter on 25 September 2025 (in German). The state-government signatories were Minister President Boris Rhein, Economy Minister Kaweh Mansoori and Finance Minister Alexander Lorz.
The financial-sector signatories include Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Helaba, ING, Bankhaus Metzler, Frankfurter Sparkasse, Rentenbank, Frankfurter Volksbank Rhein/Main, J.P. Morgan, SEB, Goldman Sachs and DWS. Other supporters include Deutsche Börse, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, FIRM, TechQuartier, Futury, Sustainable Finance Cluster and Bankenverband Mitte. The complete signature pages identify the participating representatives and organizations (in German).
Cooperation on technology projects
Technology projects are one possible route for cooperation. The accompanying strategy proposes Tech & Data Lab sandbox environments for startups and work on AI infrastructure with AI Hub Frankfurt. These are proposed measures, with their own implementation tasks.
Supporting the charter expresses a willingness to coordinate. Developing a sandbox is a separate project. A participant's contribution can be expertise in a working group or resources for a measure it chooses to support. The organization can connect that contribution to a specific strategy topic without taking responsibility for every other initiative.
The financial center charter and Finance Loop
Finance Loop works with Frankfurt Main Finance as a strategic partner and is a member of the association. Finance Loop and Frankfurt Main Finance have brought finance professionals together at events such as the Sibos side event on emerging technologies. That relationship does not establish Finance Loop as a charter signatory or cabinet member.
Finance Loop is a professional network with the goal of driving the adoption of emerging technologies in finance. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in investment and digital assets, payments and digital money, digital infrastructure and sovereignty, and risk and compliance.