display
Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - The corona pandemic has caused the Rhenish savings banks to skyrocket the demand for contactless payments with the EC card.
In January 2020 there were nine million digital contacts in this way, for which 251 million euros were paid, the Rheinische Sparkassenverband announced on Wednesday in Düsseldorf.
In December of that year, however, there were already 18 million contacts with a volume of 609 million euros.
With contactless payment, you don't have to insert your EC card into the card reader, you just hold it close.
In addition, the smartphone can be used to pay on site - to a certain extent as a card replacement (Apple Pay).
The demand for online banking also increased.
The Rhenish savings banks currently have 184 million customer hits per month via the Internet, which was six million more than before the corona crisis.
While the digital trend is pointing upwards, the branch reduction continues.
In 2020, the number of branches with staff fell by 58 to 709. These were mainly small branches with two to three employees.
According to its own information, the association speaks for 29 financial institutions with around 26,000 employees.
For example, it is about the savings banks in Aachen, Cologne, Radevormwald-Hückeswagen, Wuppertal, Gummersbach, Düsseldorf, Essen, Oberhausen and Rhein-Lippe.
display
"Many customers have become increasingly digital in the course of the year," said the association's managing director Thomas Pennartz. Looking at the time since 2010, when the savings banks still had 1151 branches, he said: "There is a gradual decline." This will continue "on a small scale", also because the costs for small branches are disproportionately high and more and more customers are doing their banking over the phone or the Internet. They rely on larger branches with specialized advice - in his opinion, changes in the branch network have no disadvantages for customers.
The Rhenish savings banks have had a mixed year - Association President Michael Breuer spoke of a "solid result".
The customer deposits climbed by 4.5 percent to 139 billion euros and the savings rate increased - also because many customers did not travel in the corona year, for example, and were able to put more money on the high edge.
The lending business rose by 4.4 percent to 128.3 billion euros.
Earnings before taxes fell by four percent to 439 million euros.
One reason for this was that the credit business was rated worse than before due to corona risks.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210421-99-294195 / 2