Will the Sparkasse be chained? Mini-interest rates and a branch network that is becoming more and more porous are causing problems for customers. There is now resistance from consumer advocates. They want to impose new rules on the savings bank – with the help of politicians.

Sparkasse is not a normal bank. In contrast to Deutsche Bank, ING and Co., the Sparkasse is subject to strict legal regulations. The consumer protection centers in Bavaria, Brandenburg and Hesse now want to change this in order to force the Sparkasse to change course.

Consumer advocates demand more branches and higher interest rates from the Sparkasse

Your claim: More branches and higher interest rates.

Specifically, the consumer advocates call for a nationwide network of branches and ATMs and reasonable interest on savings. For this purpose, the respective Savings Bank Laws changed and, for example, a “minimum number and the distribution of staffed branches and ATMs” are required by law. Something similar already exists at Swiss Post (source: daily News).

“The savings banks must be there for the people again, just as they were once created as public institutions,” emphasizes Marion Zinkeler from the Bavarian consumer advice center.

In recent years there has been a large number of branches at the Sparkasse. At the end of 2021 there was still 7,732 domestic savings bank branches, ten years earlier it was 12,810. How should the Sparkasse take care of people, consumer advocates ask, when there are fewer and fewer branches?

Apps can also save money:

Sparkasse only pays mini-interest

The picture looks similarly bleak when it comes to the interest rates that savings banks are currently paying. Despite interest rate turnaround by the ECB (currently 4 percent) many savings banks only pay zero interest or mini-interest.

Whether and when there will be a change in the Savings Banks Act is currently not foreseeable. Until then, Savings Bank customers must hope that the Savings Bank will give in – or change.