WBanking in Germany is a highly leveraged industry, as its average leverage ratio as of 11 October 2008 is 52 to 1 ; its short-term liabilities are equal to 60% of the German GDP or 167% of its national debt.
WThe Federal Financial Supervisory Authority better known by its abbreviation BaFin is the financial regulatory authority for Germany. It is an independent federal institution with headquarters in Bonn and Frankfurt and falls under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Finance. BaFin supervises about 2,700 banks, 800 financial services institutions, and over 700 insurance undertakings.
WGiropay is an Internet payment System in Germany, based on online banking. Introduced in February 2006, this payment method allows customers to buy securely on the Internet using direct online transfers from their bank account. The system is similar to the Dutch iDEAL payment system, MyBank payment system, the Interac Online service in Canada, pagomiscuentas payment service in Argentina, and Secure Vault payments in the United States. Giropay is owned by giropay GmbH.
WThe Hamburger Bank was a public credit institution founded in 1619 by the Free City of Hamburg. It operated independently until 31 December 1875, when it became part of the newly created Reichsbank.
WAs a private bank based in Hamburg, Hanseatic Bank operates throughout Germany. It specializes in four core businesses: deposit-taking, real-estate related financing, receivables management and credit cards. The company's products are distributed by partners as well as directly in one of the ten branches, online or through its own service center. Additionally, within the framework of factoring collaborations, Hanseatic Bank acquires receivables from companies within and outside of the Otto Group. The bank has more than 500 employees working at the headquarter and the subsidiary Hanseatic Service Center GmbH in Hamburg.
WMaRisk is an acronym referring to the minimum requirements for risk management, a circular by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority providing concepts for risk management of banks, insurances and other companies financially trading in Germany. The primary legal background for MaRisk is the Kreditwesengesetz (KWG), the secondary legal background is the Solvabilitätsverordnung SolvV.
WVolksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken is a brand of cooperative banks in Germany. "Volksbank" derives from People's Bank institutes and "Raiffeisenbank" refers to banks founded on initiatives by Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen. Many cooperative banks in Germany have either "Volksbank" or "Raiffeisenbank" in their name – the nationwide services and associations in the cooperative branch of the German financing industry used the compound of the plurals of these words.