Germany is different, because of those 1,389 credit institutions, 359 are Sparkassen [0], which are county- and state-owned. Sparkassen are for profit, but are

Germany is different, because of those 1,389 credit institutions, 359 are Sparkassen [0], which are county- and state-owned. Sparkassen are for profit, but are also supposed to provide basic financial services to small businesses in every county of Germany, which is why their number is so inflated. They are consolidating, closing branches and buying each other, but in a sense can already be counted as 1 bank. There are another 737 Volksbanken & Raiffeisenbanken [1], which I think you would call credit unions in the US, and are owned by their members. Both Sparkassen and Volksbanken have a complicated associated with bigger banks and service providers like asset managers (Landesbanken, DZ-Bank, LBS, Deutsche Leasing, Union Investment, etc.). It is just, that the number inflates, because of their upside-down ownership structure. The branches own the parents. [0]: https://www.dsgv.de/sparkassen-finanzgruppe/organisation/verbandsstruktur.html https://www.dsgv.de/sparkassen-finanzgruppe/organisation/ver... [1]: https://www.bvr.de/Presse/Zahlen_Daten_Fakten https://www.bvr.de/Presse/Zahlen_Daten_Fakten