The European banking sector and the co-operative banks Economic Research Department December 24th, 2008 Preface Co-operative banks perform a strong role in the European economies and the banking sectors. They impact the daily life of almost 160 million citizens. In total co-operative banks have more than 4,000 local and regional banks, approximately 60,000 branches, 49 million members and they employ 750,000 staff members. This report provides an overview of the key figures of the co-operative banks and their structures. Many data can also be found in annual reports but a comprehensive overview has so far been lacking. The report goes on to explain the main features of the banking sectors in which the co-operative banks operate. In this way the data and the market positions can be put in perspective. We invite you to read the report and take note of the features, similarities and differences of the banks. We are pleased to answer questions you might have. Economic Research Department December 2008 Bouke de Vries Willem Pieter de Groen
[email protected] 2 Economic Research Department Content Groupement 4 Unico 5 CIBP 6 Austria 7 Belgium 8 Cyprus 11 France 13 Germany 18 Greece 22 Italy 24 Ireland 27 Luxembourg 30 The Netherlands 32 Portugal 34 Scandinavia 36 Spain 41 Switzerland 43 United Kingdom 45 References 48 3 Economic Research Department EACB The European Association of Co-operative Banks (EACB), or Members (in the studied regions) ‘Groupement Européen des Banques Coopératives’ in French, is the AUSTRIA Fachverband der umbrella body and spokesman for Europe's 4,500 co-operative Raiffeisenbanken (RZB) banks.