User:Mauten2/Munich’s financial community

Munich’s financial community The community is comprised of the banks, insurers, and other providers of financial services and the financial institutions located in Munich and its region. One wellspring of the community’s importance is its insurers. Prime among them are two global players: Munich Re (turnover in 2009: €41.4 billion ) and Allianz (turnover in 2009: €27.7 billion ). The financial crisis and consolidation processes notwithstanding, Munich’s banking sector is large and multifaceted. All told, the region’s insurers and banks employ 55,810 people – equivalent to 8.1% of the region’s total workforce.

Insurers
Employing some 33,000 persons, Munich’s insurance sector is the largest in Germany and is among the world’s leaders. Headquartered in the Munich region are some 60 insurers, including the Allianz Group, Munich Re, D.A.S., Versicherungskammer Bayern and Bayerische Versorgungskammer. Also at home in the region are such non-German insurers as Swiss Re.

Banks
Home to 160 banks, savings banks and credit unions, Munich has the second largest banking sector in Germany (largest is Frankfurt am Main). Munich’s 50 banks include Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank AG, which merged with Unicredit to form a European-level banking group; and BayernLB. Stadtsparkasse München is one of Germany’s largest savings banks. Mortgage-related transactions are one of the sector’s specialties. Munich-based banks issue one third of all of Germany’s mortgage bonds.

Asset management
In 1949, the Munich-based ADIG became Germany’s first mutual fund. Today, asset managers owned by Munich-based companies administer assets worth substantially more than one trillion euros.

Munich Stock Exchange
Traded on the Munich Stock Exchange, which is owned by Bayerische Börse AG, are stocks, bonds, funds, ETFs and ETCs. The Exchange’s m:access provides SMEs with a way of securing equity. Dealt on the Exchange’s Contrex and greenmarket platforms are CFDs and CO2 emission certificates.

Private equity and venture capital
More than 40 VC and private equity companies are headquartered in Munich. Also in the city are a large number of other companies in the sector.

Leasing and factoring
The Munich region is home to Germany’s largest leasing sector. Of the some 200 members of Germany’s Association of Leasing Companies (holding a 90% share of the country’s market), nearly 20% are headquartered in the region, including Kommanditgesellschaft Allgemeine Leasing (KGAL), LHI Leasing and Hannover Leasing. Home to such companies as Eurofactor AG, Munich’s factoring sector is among the largest in Germany.

Capital provision institutions
Munich is home to two institutions that are major providers of capital: LfA Förderbank Bayern and BayBG Bayerische Beteiligungsgesellschaft. The LfA’s main activity is the supplying of cost-advantageous loans to start-ups and to SMEs. BayBG provides equity to SMEs, to which it then serves as a silent partner.

Institutions
Rounding out Munich’s financial community are the office of the Deutsche Bundesbank and such dedicated organizations as Bavaria’s Banking Association or the Association of Bavarian Savings Banks.