Bavaria’s financial industry is large—with a total workforce of 179,000—and diverse. It comprises banks, insurers, asset managers, and providers of special-purpose finance—venture capital, leasing and factoring. One of the industry’s specialties is insurance. Its 100 company-strong insurance community makes Bavaria one of the world’s leaders.
After allowing for inflation, the gross value added of Bavaria’s banks and insurance companies has risen by 59% since the beginning of the 90s. That of the sectors comprised in the financing, rentals and B2B services statistical unit accounts for 30% of the gross value added of the state’s economy—a figure making it the most important industry in this category.

Bavaria’s insurance community is large, especially when one includes companies with ancillary activities. According to the VAT statistics compiled for 2006, the community is comprised of more than 2,000 companies.

With all of them profiting from the exceptional operating conditions offered by the state of Bavaria, the state’s financial service companies include

• Allianz AG
• Munich Stock Exchange
• Bayerische Beamtenversicherung
• Munich Re
• D.A.S.
• Nürnberger Versicherungsgruppe
• HUK Coburg
• Münchner Hypothekenbank eG

Located in Bavaria are 11 universities, 17 universities of applied sciences, three large-sized research institutions, 11 Max Planck institutes and ten Fraunhofer Society centers of applied research.

Bavaria’s institutions of higher education have launched special-purpose masters programs. These enable students to acquire qualifications sought after by internationally-acting companies.

Bavaria’s universities of applied sciences have expanded their range of degree programs by instituting ones combining in-classroom and in-company learning and staged with input from partner corporations. The number of these is to be increased in the years to come.

Research and degree programs of practical import are conducted and offered by a large number of institutions—universities’ departments of business administration, of economics, of jurisprudence, of economics-use IT (in some cases) and of financial engineering.

Bayerische Finanz Zentrum e.V. (Bavarian Finance Center—BFC) serves as the cluster’s platform. It links insurers, banks, the Munich Stock Exchange, asset management specialists and private equity providers into a network, one working closely with scientific institutes. The BFC provides clarity-ensuring overviews of the degree programs offered and research being conducted at Bavaria’s institutions of higher education. The BFC also coordinates projects conducted by consortia and undertaking the pursuing and application of research to the needs of the financial service industry.

BFC’s main thrusts include the:

• intermeshing of research activities and financial industry knowhow
• imparting a greater degree of comprehensibility and accountability to the financial industry’s research, so as to expedite the utilization of the research’s findings
• initiating of projects and studies involving the hands-on participation by financial services companies
• assuring an adequate supply of young professionals and managers

BFC: main activities

Innovations of use to the financial industry –- joint projects
The BFC facilitates the forming of research consortia. The Center also assists their projects in coming up with products and services solving the problems facing the financial sector.

Exchanges of scientific findings and practical experience – events
The BFC facilitates and organizes conferences and seminars covering the financial industry’s key subjects.

Highly-qualified young professionals – career center
The career center offers a Web application enabling graduates holding financial degrees to find positions in the sector.

Research capacities: inventories and audits
These activities provide comprehensive, easy-to-understand overviews of the degree programs and research being offered and undertaken at and envisioned for Bavaria’s institutions of higher education and scientific investigation.

Bavaria’s insurers have maintained for many years their 30% share of the German market. Some 29,000 people work (full-time and permanently-employed) for Munich-based insurers—the largest total of any city in Germany. Munich is thus Germany’s leading insurance center. The city also ranks second in the banking sector. As the above figures imply, the largest employers in Bavaria’s insurance sector are found in metropolitan Munich. The state’s other major centers are in Nuremberg and Coburg, with a total of more than 12,000 employees—equivalent to 20% of the state insurance industry’s total.

Nuremberg metropolitan region
The opening of its office in Nuremberg is the BFC’s way of furthering the development of the financial services industry in the Nuremberg metropolitan area and in surrounding central and northern Bavaria. The new office’s brief is to forge a network comprised of local and regional players. The projects undertaken by and in the network will enable the players and thus the metropolitan area and the region to realize their potentials of operation. In addition to coordinating projects, the office is to stage, on a regular basis, roundtables attended by the region’s financial services providers.

Greater Nuremberg’s academic and research communities are large (with four universities and ten universities of applied sciences) and well-reputed.  The financial sector with which they work is equally large and well-regarded, being comprised of insurers and banks.

Munich’s financial community
Members of the Munich Financial Center Initiative (MFCI) are leading banks, insurers, venture capital companies, Bayerische Börse AG (operator of the Munich Stock Exchange), chambers of commerce, business associations and scientific organizations. In undertaking its activities, the Bavarian Finance Center closely consults with MFCI. Many of the persons representing MFCI’s members are also on the BFC’s board of trustees.

MFCI devotes itself to realizing the following objectives:

• intermeshing and thus joining the activities being undertaken by Munich’s financial services companies into thrusts of operation
• securing interest and investment in the industry
• representing the interests of Munich’s financial community in its dealings with Germany’s federal government, the EU and other parties
• forging networks comprised of financial services companies and financial sciences institutes, fostering the founding and development of educational and research facilities
• ensuring an adequate supply of capital to SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) and other companies)
• facilitating the further development of the Munich Stock Exchange

A large number of initiatives have been launched in Bavaria to improve the conditions under which the financial industry operates. Initiated have also been programs designed to facilitate regional-level development, to intermesh stocks of knowhow, and to secure interest and investment in the industry.

Initiative for start-ups
Bavaria’s Start-Up Pact operates a portal offering, in a first, access to all programs designed to support the founding of companies. Fulfilling one of the initiative’s prime objectives, the resulting networking of the many important institutions in the field fosters the forging of ties and thus working relationships among them. The Pact’s activities are designed to address and resolve issues arising from corporate start-ups and changes of senior management.
MBPW GmbH stages the Munich Business Plan Competition. The Plan is also a major source of assistance and funding for start-ups, of which 480 have been founded with its support. These companies have created 3,250 jobs, and have been the recipients of €330 million in investment.

MBPW’s counterpart in northern Bavaria is netzwerk|nordbayern (NN--Network for Northern Bavaria). It assists companies in preparing their business plans and in securing capital. It does so by putting the companies in touch with business angels, venture capital companies, banks, state institutions of support, and strategic investors which are members of NN’s proprietary network. NN’s track record: it has helped found 450 companies.

BaFin
BaFin is Germany’s Agency of Financial Services Supervision. It forms part of Germany’s federal ministry of finance, which is responsible for controlling its operations. BaFin’s brief is to serve as the agency of supervision of all sectors and players comprising Germany’s financial markets. Its main objects of supervision are banks, insurers and securities markets in Germany. BaFin’s objectives are to ensure the functionality, integrity and stability of Germany’s financial system.
 
Deutsche Bundesbank
The Deutsche Bundesbank is the central bank of the Federal Republic of Germany. As such, it serves as the bank of the country’s banks. Its main activity is implementing the monetary policies enacted for the Euro system. Other key areas of responsibility are the financial and currency systems, and the supervision of banks, and of cash and non-cash flows of funds. The Bundesbank is headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. It operates a main office in Munich and five other ones in Bavaria.

… is available from “Key technologies in Bavaria”. „Key Technologies in Bavaria“ This databank contains entries on Bavaria’s financial services companies.