Driven by digitization, more and more bank branches are closing in Germany. Overall, the number of branches fell by almost six percent last year to 20,446 bank branches, the Bundesbank said. The number of locations has thus almost halved within ten years. In 2021, the shrinkage was almost ten percent.
The shrinking process can be seen in all banking sectors, it said. The reduction in the big banks last year was almost eight percent, the number of branches fell to 3719 branches. At the same time, the branch network of the regional banks has shrunk to 954 branches. The savings banks also closed 441 branches, the cooperative banks 416. According to the Bundesbank, the total number of credit institutions in Germany fell by 61 last year to 1,458 financial institutions, mainly due to the merger of cooperative institutions.