FRANKFURT (Dow Jones) – The German cooperative banks granted more loans last year. As the Federal Association of Deutsche Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken (BVR) announced on the basis of preliminary figures, the cooperative banks increased their lending business in 2019 by a good 6 percent compared to the previous year to € 626 billion.
“Even in the face of tough competition and a weakening economy, the loans from the cooperative banks to medium-sized and private customers have grown solidly,” said BVR President Marija Kolak. “The driver of credit growth was the brisk demand from customers for long-term home loans.”
On the private customer side, loan balances rose by 5 percent to EUR 305 billion, for corporate customers and other customers by around 7 percent to EUR 321 billion.
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