In
rural Germany, 'mobile banking' means a bank on a truck AFP
Bank
manager Juergen Schaller never expected to end up getting a trucker's licence
and driving 20,000 kilometres per year.
But
as brick-and-mortar branches vanish from the rolling Franconia region of
northern Bavaria, the neatly dressed savings bank executive jumps behind the
wheel four days a week to bring mobile services -- including cash machine and
consultation room -- to tiny countryside villages.
The
switch from desk to dashboard has enabled Schaller "to do something else
while staying in touch with the customers", he told AFP.
High-street
banks are increasingly being forced to shutter branches, as more and more
customers go online, rural populations shrink and low interest rates eat into
profits.
As
a result, banks such as the public-sector Sparkassen, where Schaller is a
branch manager, are having to rethink their business models.
In
Schaller's Kronach-Kulmbach district alone, tucked away in the southeast corner
of Germany, six branches sporting the red "S" logo of the widely
popular savings banks group closed their doors last year.
Nico
Bandick is a Sparkasse employee in Brandenburg. Photo: DPA
A
similar trend is seen across the country as a whole: nationwide, the number of
physical bank branches has plunged by a quarter over the past 15 years to 35
per 100,000 people, according to a study by public investment bank KfW.
The
European average is 37 per 100,000, with Spaniards the most spoiled for choice
with 67.
Steffen
Haberzettl, the sales director for the Kronach-Kulmbach Sparkasse, said it was
primarily local businesses and older people who had not embraced online banking
who were taking advantage of the mobile branch, which first set off on its
rounds in 2015.
'Anything
you need'
Haberzettl
estimated that around 20 people visited the bank at each stop, equivalent to
12,000 customer contacts a year -- a tiny number compared with some 8,800
online banking logins per day.
But
"we invested in this service for our clients knowing that it wouldn't make
enough money to pay for itself", he said.
Local
politicians who sit on the Sparkasse board were reluctant to plunge their
constituents into a bankless wilderness as the number of closures mount.
So,
they opted to hit the road instead in one of Germany's 66 itinerant branches.
In
the bank's trailer, 70-something Maria Neubauer is happy to wait for an
appointment with Schaller in his tiny office during his 90-minute stop opposite
the church in the slate-tiled village of Tschirn.
"The
Sparkasse bus is great for making transfers, or doing anything you need,"
she said.
"We're
happy, especially those of us who don't have a car" to visit a branch
further away, another villager Maria Greiner said as she printed an account
statement from a nearby machine.
Other
customers were busy withdrawing cash on the chilly town square from the ATM
embedded in the flank of the trailer.
Schaller
makes his rounds to small villages such as this from Monday to
Thursday, keeping Fridays free to do maintenance work on the red and white
truck and trailer.
He
has no access to the cash on board, and so far he's had no run-ins with
would-be bankrobbers.
Closures
keep coming
Banking
sector experts predict that the Europe-wide trend towards fewer bank branches
will continue apace.
"The
speed at which it will happen is hard to predict, and will depend above all on
how the banks manage to keep branches relevant as a channel for their customers,"
said Thomas Schnarr of consultancy Oliver Wyman.
Nevertheless,
"human relationships remain fundamental. Especially complicated questions
require personalized advice for retail clients and businesses", his
colleague Alexander Peitsch said.
For
his part, Juergen Schaller said he is not qualified to provide such specialist
counselling to his clients, many of whom know him by name.
Instead,
he passes on individual requests for loans or investments to a colleague
sitting in one of the Sparkasse's brick-and-mortar branches.
My comments:
Germany is a country that I would like to visit if I have a chance.
My 3rd sister's second daughter just came back today on students' exchange for a year there. She should have had a lot of surprising and interesting exposure there.
