Savings banks; supervision

The governments exercise supervision over the savings banks under the direction of the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior, for Sport and Integration.

For contact details of the responsible authoritiy and local valid information select under "Select location" a location.

The savings banks in Bavaria are supported by the local authorities (districts, cities and special-purpose associations). They are commercial enterprises that compete with other financial institutions such as cooperative banks and private banks.

The savings banks in Bavaria fulfill a public mandate. As institutions of municipal services of general interest, they guarantee the nationwide provision of financial services to the population and the economy, especially small and medium-sized enterprises.

As institutions under public law, the savings banks are not only subject to the specialist supervision of the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, which applies to all banks, but also to legal supervision under state law, which is exercised by the district governments.

The governments' supervision extends to ensuring that the savings banks observe and comply with the provisions of savings bank law and administrative orders under Bavarian state law. It is designed purely as a legal supervisory authority and may only act in the so-called public interest. Therefore, it may not intervene if a consumer can also assert their concerns in proceedings before the civil, criminal or administrative courts.

There are three contact points for consumer protection in savings bank matters:

Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin): comprehensive information on consumer protection
Arbitration board of the German Savings Banks and Giro Association (DSGV): Information on the consumer arbitration board
Building society complaints office: information on the internal complaints department of LBS Süd; if no agreement can be reached, an out-of-court arbitration procedure can be initiated with the ombudsman of the Association of German Public Sector Banks (VÖB), an independent and neutral dispute resolution body