200 years of Sparkasse Bodensee: A celebration for the region and the future!

200 years of Sparkasse Bodensee: A celebration for the region and the future!

The Sparkasse Bodensee recently celebrated its 200th anniversary with a ceremony in Tettnang, the founding site of the Oberamt's “Spar- und Kreditkasse”, which was founded on July 8, 1825. Numerous employees and guests from politics and business gathered at this festive event to look back on an impressive entrepreneurial achievement. Since its inception, this bank has contributed significantly to poverty alleviation and general welfare, such as Schwäbische.de reported.

As early as 1830, the then “savings and loan bank” had almost 100,000 guilders in deposits. Development was rapid: in 1912, the Oberamtssparkasse was already represented in 14 locations. The renaming to “Kreissparkasse” took place in 1934, followed by a relocation of the headquarters to Friedrichshafen in 1938. In 2001, the Kreissparkasse Friedrichshafen, the Landkreissparkasse Überlingen and the Sparkasse Konstanz merged to form the Sparkasse Bodensee. Today, the savings bank can look back on an impressive balance sheet total of 5.4 billion euros and manages around 3.7 billion euros in deposits and around 4 billion euros in customer loans.

Responsibility and challenge

In his speech, CEO Lothar Mayer underlined the institution's responsibility in the region and drew attention to the challenges that lie ahead. More than 30 percent of the workforce will retire in the near future, which will force the savings bank to adapt its structures. Demographic change, digital transformation and social participation will be the central topics in the coming years. Finance Minister Danyal Bayaz emphasized the Sparkasse's role as a local financial partner and praised its contribution to the local economy.

As part of the ceremony, gifts for musicians and a check were presented to the Tettnang Music School, which underlines the Sparkasse's close ties to the region.

A look at the digital future

Another central point of the evening was the discussion about the Sparkasse's digital future. According to an analysis by BaFin, digitalization is often described as a change that brings with it far-reaching social and political changes. The savings banks have already taken several steps in digitalization, starting with the first online banking transactions in 1984. Today they are very popular with their digital offerings and record around 2.5 billion website visitors every year. These digital applications are not just a supplement, but a central sales channel.

Sparkasse Bodensee also sees digitalization as an opportunity to further develop its business models and stay close to customers. As part of their digital agenda The bank aims to be a relevant contact point for financial services and invests in security architectures as well as new technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence.

In summary, it can be said that Sparkasse Bodensee has not only reached a significant milestone in its history with its 200th anniversary, but has also set the course for a future-proof and customer-oriented banking design. In a world in which economic and social conditions are changing rapidly, the Sparkasse will continue to play an important role as the “engine of medium-sized businesses”. According to Lothar Mayer, it is now important to actively address these challenges in order to continue to offer the best financial services in the Lake Constance region in the future.