2014 was a good year for the Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken Cooperative Financial Network. The network comprising the 1,047 cooperative banks, DZ BANK, WGZ BANK and the central product specialists – Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall, R+V Versicherung, Union Investment, VR-LEASING, TeamBank, DZ PRIVATBANK plus the three mortgage banks DG HYP, WL BANK and Münchner Hypothekenbank – maintained the growth trajectory of the previous year, and generated consolidated net profit of €7.8 billion.

Once more, the Cooperative Financial Network proved itself a strong lender and a reliable partner to small and medium-sized enterprises in Germany. Yet again, the tremendous confidence placed in us by our customers and 18 million members was reflected in higher volumes of customer business. Customer loans increased by 3.4 percent to €671 billion, with particularly strong growth in lending to corporate clients and in consumer home finance. Despite fierce competition, the volume of customer deposits also grew again, rising from €693 billion to €713 billion.