Germany Retail Banking - Competitor Benchmarking, 2021-2025
Summary
This report benchmarks the leading incumbent banks in the German retail banking market, comparing their financial performances, market shares, and customer satisfaction data, among other key performance indicators.
The low-interest-rate environment means that banks in Germany could not increase their net interest margins for 2020 as most banks saw decline or no change. Impairments and non-interest income increased across most providers between 2019 and 2020. Meanwhile cost-to-income ratios increased (with the exception of Deutsche Bank), likely driven by increased investment in digital strategies, but the impact of these strategies has not been seen across many net satisfaction scores yet. Looking at retail deposit market shares, all banks except for Sparkassen have made meaningful gains since 2010. Residential mortgage growth has been varied across the market, while Deutsche Bank has seen the most significant increase in credit card market share.
Scope
- ING-DiBa and Deutsche Kreditbank both recorded the highest average score for satisfaction at 68%, while Postbank has the lowest at 48%.
- Across consumers’ three most important attributes (resolving problems easily, easy-to-understand products, and helpful staff), Postbank and HypoVereinsbank were among the lowest for satisfaction. The top three areas of importance all show how transparency and simplicity are what German respondents are looking for the most, which suggests an apparent problem around providing customers with the simplicity and transparency that they require from the lowest-scoring providers.
- There is a strong correlation between net promoter scores (NPSs) and average bank scores across satisfaction: ING-DiBa, Deutsche Kreditbank, Comdirect, and Norisbank have strong NPSs in Germany as well as the highest overall average bank scores. Thus, improving satisfaction in certain areas will likely lead to more promoters.
- Gain an understanding of which banks in the German market are performing best and will continue to do so.
- Discover which banks are under threat and perceived as being behind the curve by customers.
- Understand the German retail banking landscape and establish how it may develop based on the key performance indicators included.
Companies Mentioned
Sparkassen
Deutsche Bank
Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken
Sparda-Bank
Comdirect
Targobank
Commerzbank
HypoVereinsbank
ING-DiBa
Deutsche Kreditbank
Norisbank
Postbank
Revolut
Klarna
- Executive summary
- Financial Performance, Market Share, and Cross-Selling
- 2020 saw an increase in impairments and cost-to-income ratios across most German banks
- Deutsche Bank has seen the biggest growth across market shares, while Sparkassen has seen significant declines since 2010
- The big four banks in Germany account for 66% of current account market share
- Targobank, Sparda-Bank, Postbank, and Norisbank are the only banks not to have cross-sold three products
- Channel Visitation Trends and Digital Adoption
- Digital engagement in 2021 has not shown signs of increasing across many German banks
- 70% of Comdirect and ING-DiBa customers are unlikely to move to a traditional German bank
- The use of mobile wallets is limited in Germany - likely driven by the higher preference for cash transactions
- Customer Satisfaction
- Postbank, Deutsche Bank, and HypoVereinsbank have NPSs in negative figures
- Postbank and HypoVereinsbank have the lowest average bank scores across German players
- ING-DiBa and Deutsche Kreditbank have the highest customer satisfaction in terms of their ability to resolve problems easily
- Areas around better digital banking are the top reasons as to why alternatives are preferred among German respondents
- Overall, German banks still have work to do with providing easy-to-understand products to their primary account holders
- Norisbank customers have the highest net satisfaction for helpful banking staff at 83%
- German customers do not see money management as an important attribute for everyday banking
- Satisfaction around loyalty and rewards is extremely low, with all banks scoring 15% or below, except for Kreditbank
- Satisfaction around customizable products and platforms is low at Volksbanken and Sparkassen
- Sparkassen, Postbank, and HypoVereinsbank have a strong opportunity to improve pricing strategies
- The closure of branches has caused dissatisfaction with their ease of access
- Appendix
- Methodology
- Sample size
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