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The Bundesverband der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken (Federal Association of German 'Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken' Co-operative Banks) is the association of co-operative banks in Germany. The co-operative branch of the German banking industry includes banks of the "Volksbanken" type (literally people's banks - co-operatives originally created by a local population often based in a town), banks of the "Raiffeisenbanken" type (banks based on initiatives by Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen who was pioneering farmer credit unions), the Sparda-bank (originally the co-operative savings bank of railroad workers), the regional PSD-banks (originally the credit union for postal service workers), various ecclesiastical banks and a number of special trades banks. Along with other branches (e.g. German public banks) the association is member of the Central Credit Committee governing the banking industry in Germany. The Bundesverband has taken the form of Eingetragener Verein.

The federal association was created in 1972 by merging three predecessors mainly by merging their deposit protection funds and their history archives - the co-operatives themselves are autonomous. The Cooperative Financial Services Network includes the co-operative central bank - the Deutsche Zentralgenossenschaftbank - and other central credit institutions like WGZ-Bank, Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall, R + V - Versicherungsgruppe, Union-Investment-Gruppe and Deutsche Genossenschafts-Hypothekenbank AG. Since 1979 the co-operatives created a concept of a universal bank (commercial bank) from which a later corporate identity of the "Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken" banks developed (abbreviated "VR") that is now shared by most associated banks. The German federal association of co-operative banks is member of the European Association of Co-operative Banks.

Regional Associations [edit]

• Baden-Württembergischer Genossenschaftsverband e.V. (BWGV)
• Genossenschaftsverband Bayern e.V. (GVB)
• Genossenschaftsverband e.V. (GV) (Berlin/Hessen/Norddeutschland/Rheinland-Pfalz/Saarland/Sachsen/Sachsen-Anhalt/Thüringen)
• Rheinisch-Westfälischer Genossenschaftsverband e.V. (RWGV)
• Genossenschaftsverband Weser-Ems e.V. (GVWE)
• Verband der PSD Banken
• Verband der Sparda-Banken

Members [edit]

see the list of co-operative banks in Germany

Service Incorporations [edit]

• CardProcess GmbH
• F-Call AG
• Fiducia IT AG
• GAD eG, IT Services for Banks
• IT-Chain GmbH
• ORGA Gesellschaft für automatische Datenverarbeitung mbH
• TSG Technologie Services GmbH
• VR-Netze GmbH

See also [edit]

• Deutscher Genossenschafts-und Raiffeisenverband
• Bankcard-Servicenetz

External links [edit]

• http://www.bvr.de Homepage