In Corona times, people worry not only about their health, but also about their money. Sparkasse boss Renate Waßmer has these recommendations.
Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen - The financial crisis in 2008 ruined many small investors, who lost almost their entire reserves with the Lehman certificates. Twelve years later, because of the corona pandemic, we're headed straight for a possibly even deeper recession. People worry not only about their health, but also about their money. We spoke to Renate Waßmer, CEO of Sparkasse Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen.
Ms. Waßmer, what can the Sparkasse do for borrowers who, for example, are on short-time work and are concerned about not being able to pay the installments for their house?
Renate Waßmer is the CEO of Sparkasse Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen
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The first state aid was launched last week at record speed. According to the legal requirements, a suspension of interest and repayments is possible for three months for consumers. As of April, this can be applied for quickly and easily in our Internet branch. If there are bottlenecks of our customers, it is always the best way to contact us. Together we will find solutions, for example for interest and repayment suspensions that go beyond the legal requirements. We stand by our customers, especially in these times of crisis.
Is the father of a family currently financially short of a small loan without a credit check?
There is always a credit check for every loan application; we are obliged to do so from a regulatory perspective. But in general, if you had a loan before the Corona crisis, you can get it now.
What does the Sparkasse do for medium-sized businesses that are threatened in their existence? Do you think of emergency loans?
This is where state emergency aid and loan funds from the development banks come into play. The emergency aid goes directly to the district governments. The aid programs of the development banks, the LfA or KfW run through the respective house bank, i.e. for our customers through our savings bank. The demand for subsidies was high in advance, and since the beginning of last week we have had a real flood of applications. We have around 40 percent market share with corporate customers and the self-employed. As you can imagine, this presents us - like the entire banking landscape - with enormous challenges. Every loan application must be examined by us - also for the funding institutions - so that they can do without their own examination within certain limits and process the applications as quickly as possible. For the credit processing of corporate customers and the self-employed, we have significantly expanded our personnel capacities and use employees from other areas. We do everything to ensure that the help reaches our customers quickly. For many of our corporate and self-employed customers, the crisis is a huge challenge in many areas. As a savings bank, we make our contribution to overcoming this crisis and are aware of this responsibility.
Do savers have to fear for their money in the face of the looming recession?
No, our customers' savings are safe! The savings banks were already the hotbed of stability in the financial crisis around ten years ago, and it will continue to be so this time. On the one hand, the Sparkasse is economically very solid, on the other hand, all savings deposits in Germany and the European Union are protected. There is also the institute protection at savings banks, which indirectly protects all deposits, regardless of the amount. Investors should keep their nerve, not spend time on the latest news every hour, but look to the future: How do you imagine the world in two or three years? Then hopefully the Corona crisis will be history and the economic downturn will be over. When viewed in this way, it becomes clear that long-term-oriented securities investors can remain calm. The current market situation also offers long-term-oriented securities savers entry opportunities. Investors willing to take risks are already considering whether they want to use the low prices to gradually enter the markets.
What do you think borrowers, savers and investors can now do specifically?
Above all, you should keep calm and discuss your financial situation with us under the new conditions. Are relevant income components lost due to the corona crisis? Where are they missing to meet current obligations? In our view, customers should now discuss these and all other questions together with our savings bank advisor.
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