This is the result of a study by the consulting company steria mummert, which was made available to the financial news agency dpa-AFX in advance. Offices of savings banks and cooperative banks in particular at risk. At the end of 2013, there were still 38,225 bank jobs in germany, according to bundesbank figures, almost 11,500 fewer than ten years earlier.
For the study, the consulting company asked 100 decision-makers from credit institutions in germany in august and september, who are representative of the industry in germany, to participate in a survey by the market research institute forsa.
More than six years after the peak of the financial crisis, banks continue to take a negative view of their prospects. More than one in three bank managers expect the sector's development to lag behind the overall economy in 2017. Private banks are particularly pessimistic.
Increasingly stringent regulations, low interest rates, cost pressures and the continuing loss of customer confidence were the main negative factors. Two-thirds of those surveyed believe that this will not be regained in the foreseeable future.
In view of the difficult situation for the sector, there is now a growing willingness to cooperate across institutional boundaries. Almost half of the respondents plan to work more closely with other companies in the coming years, compared with just under one-third in the consultancy's previous industry survey in 2019. There is also a growing interest in larger mergers.
Almost all respondents (92 percent) feel threatened by new competitors from the internet and mobile communications. As a way out, around 60 percent of banks want to expand their customer advisory services in order to set themselves apart from competitors from outside the sector and better utilize the remaining branches.