Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken
Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken is a brand of the co-operative banks in Germany. "Volksbank" derives from People's Bank institutes (co-operatives originally created by a local population often based in a town) and "Raiffeisenbanken" refers to banks founded on initiatives by Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen (who was pioneering farmer credit unions). Many co-operative banks in Germany have either "Volksbank" or "Raiffeisenbank" in their name – the nationwide services and associations in the co-operative branch of the German financing industry used the compound of the plurals of these words (so it translates as Peoples banks and Raiffeisen banks).
The national association is the Bundesverband der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken.
FinanzVerbund
The Bundesverband der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken (Federal Association of German 'Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken' Co-operative Banks) has introduced the "FinanzVerbund" (translated by the association as "Cooperative Financial Services Network") or Finanzverbund Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken combining a number of subsidiaries.
- Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall – cooperative building society / home loan bank
- R+V Versicherung – one of the largest insurance groups in Germany
- Union Investment Gruppe – investment fund society
- easyCredit – consumer credit brand of the co-operative TeamBank
- DZ Bank – central bank of the co-operative branch in Germany
- WGZ Bank – regional central bank for Northrhine-Westfalia
- DG Hyp – biggest of the investment in property / mortgage bank
- Münchener Hypothekenbank – the only co-operative mortgage bank
- WL Bank – "Westfälische Landschaft Bodenkreditbank", the mortgage bank subsidiary of the WGZ Bank
- VR Leasing – leasing bank in the VR Finanzverbund
Note how some financial institutes use variants of the Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken brand, its abbreviation "VR" or the older brand "R+V" (spoken as "R and V" referring to Raiffeisen and Volksbank). The scheme of a corporate identity and a franchise market where a brand and product structure is licensed, that is a modern invention that came about long after most co-operatives where founded so that many financial institutes continue with their historic name. Nevertheless, most of the co-operative financial institutes have changed to the blue-orange color of the Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken brand (only Schwäbisch-Hall continues with its traditional red-yellow logo).
The 'Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken' group in Germany should not be confused with the 'Volksbank' institutes (people's bank) in other countries, especially the Volksbank group headquartered in Austria. Likewise 'Raiffeisen' is more generic than banks and it is often used in other co-operation types in the farming industry, see Deutscher Genossenschafts- und Raiffeisenverband.