Banks: KfW: Funding requirements are normalizing after the exceptional year 2022

According to the state development bank KfW, despite the difficult environment in the first half of the year, it achieved an above-average consolidated profit of EUR 885 million. In the comparison period of the exceptional year 2022, however, it was still 949 million euros, as the institute in Frankfurt announced. “Overall, the first half of 2023 was challenging for the economy and society,” said CEO Stefan Wintels.

After the period of the previous year, which was characterized by crisis aid as a result of the Ukraine war, KfW recorded a normalization of demand for promotional activities in Germany. Last year, the billions that the federal government decided to secure the energy supply and to relieve households and companies caused the funding volume of the institute to skyrocket.

In the first half of the current year, the banking group’s total funding volume fell to EUR 58.7 billion after EUR 95.1 billion in the same period of the previous year. The domestic funding volume fell from 87 billion to 42.8 billion euros. According to the information, in addition to the expiry of special corona programs, a more restrained demand for credit due to the rise in interest rates also contributed to the decline.

By contrast, demand for export and project financing rose. “We are thus supporting German industry and our country’s long-term international competitiveness,” said Wintels. The institute, which is 80 percent owned by the federal government and 20 percent by the federal states and is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, provides medium-sized companies, home builders and students with low-interest loans in the traditional promotional business.

The then Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) began its work when the KfW Law came into force on November 18, 1948. After the Second World War, the Americans and British gave the institute the task of rebuilding a devastated Germany with funds from the Marshall Plan.