The Landesbausparkassen in the southwest and in Bavaria are to merge with each other. On Monday, the bodies of the savings bank associations in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and Rhineland-Palatinate announced that they were entering into concrete talks about a merger.
A merger would create what it claims to be the largest state building society in Germany. Together, the institutes would have a balance sheet total of around 37 billion euros, 3.5 million home savings contracts and a home savings sum of 147 billion euros.
LBS Südwest is active in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The Baden-Württemberg Savings Banks Association is responsible for 87.5 percent and the Rhineland-Palatinate Savings Banks Association for 12.5 percent. LBS Bayern is supported by the Savings Banks Association of Bavaria. At the end of 2021, they employed around 1500 people together.
The future LBS Süd should have its headquarters in Stuttgart and Munich. There should be a state directorate for Rhineland-Palatinate at the Mainz location. There will also be a location in Karlsruhe.
“With LBS Süd, we want to create a strong building society in the economically strongest region of Germany by combining the two houses that are excellently positioned in the market,” the statement said. The future viability of a powerful state building society in southern Germany would be secured in the long term by bundling.
