Michael Diederich, CEO of Hypovereinsbank, describes Corona as a catalyst in our interview.
He doesn't necessarily find the consequences bad.
Munich - The pandemic has fundamentally changed the way millions of people live and work.
Not everything will be the same as it used to be when the crisis is over, says the CEO of Hypovereinsbank, Michael Diederich.
"Something has been set in motion that cannot be turned back when we are all vaccinated," he says in an interview with our newspaper - and finds it all in all not bad at all.
Companies have recently been obliged to offer their employees corona tests *.
How is it going for you in the bank?
We have been testing since autumn last year, since there have been enough tests.
Thanks to our colleagues in Italy, we saw what was happening in Lombardy early on.
More than a year ago, it was during the Bavarian carnival holidays, we therefore decided to take vigorous countermeasures: We spatially separated board members, put in Plexiglas, we ordered protective masks *, plastic gloves and hectoliters of disinfectant.
And we have closed our canteen for 4,000 people.
Already in February 2020?
Yes.
We have also warned all the companies we work with: Be careful, something is rolling towards us.
And then it happened in quick succession.
You are also in the starting blocks when it comes to vaccination.
Yes, we are preparing.
We are in the process of building around 20 vaccination routes.
Then we have to wait until the companies are supplied with vaccine in addition to the vaccination centers and general practitioners.
That could be the case at the end of May, then the prioritization could also fall in Bavaria.
We try to be so well prepared that we can start vaccinating immediately, possibly also vaccinating relatives of our employees, when the infrastructure is in place and everything is running.
That looks like very hands-on management.
How do you assess that in politics?
As far as the aid on the economic side is concerned, one can only approve of the policy.
When the economic heart temporarily stopped beating, state aid began.
In what width, size and speed, is looking for its equal.
I've never seen anything like it, not even during the financial crisis.
You have to imagine: The state development bank KfW has taken 100 percent of the risks for the auxiliary loans into its own books - this is a one-time process.
I know that there has been a lot of discussion and criticism.
But I also know from our international experience that many countries envied us for our economic aid programs.
That was breathtaking.
That was the positive part.
The other part is that tests and vaccinations all take an extremely long time.
The truth is, in the pandemic, you just had to step into uncharted territory.
When have we had such a crisis for which there was no blueprint?
In retrospect, of course, you have to say that we didn't get everything right the first time.
But much was still unclear from a scientific point of view.
As a company, we have solved this in such a way that we have put the safety of our employees at the top right from the start - and we have pulled it off.
How did that go exactly?
For example, since last spring, only between ten and a maximum of 40 percent of the people who normally work there have been working in the HVB tower in Munich.
At the moment, 85 percent work at home.
When the incidence was particularly high in a region, we temporarily closed branches and looked after customers from home.
Was there a loss of efficiency as a result?
The first few weeks were difficult.
You have to imagine, we once sent home the full cast of the Allianz Arena.
We needed a lot more laptops than before, plus the software, access codes, and we didn't know whether the networks and systems would work when all of the around 80,000 UniCredit Group employees log in from home.
But after six weeks I would say we were ready to solve the problems and were about as productive as before.
Since your balance is so positive, what conclusions will you draw for the time after Corona?
That is the exciting question: How will work change in the future?
We definitely want to offer up to two full days of home office even after the crisis, flexibly, whatever day of the week.
Different types of play are conceivable.
This not only changes the way we work, but also the logistics, office property market and road traffic dramatically.
Are you thinking of giving up office space in the city and perhaps concentrating all activities on the HVB tower?
Nothing is currently planned.
At the beginning we actually considered whether we would still need so much space in the future because of home office.
But Corona * also has the consequence that people should and do not want to sit so close together anymore.
That means, you need more space in the offices for each employee.
After Corona, we have to see how it all levels off.
Do your employees like their new work?
I believe that many appreciate the great flexibility.
When you have school-age children or sick relatives, knowing that you can better organize your work according to your needs makes you feel good.
Something has been set in motion that cannot and should not be stopped.
What do the customers say?
We have seen that customer behavior has changed dramatically during this time.
Even people who are not avid smartphone users have meanwhile accepted online banking as a matter of course, as has video advice - everything that many simply did not dare to do before the crisis.
Customers have noticed how much more convenient it is to conclude a loan agreement or real estate financing from home.
instead of driving into town.
And now we can really conclude everything that we offer in the branch online.
In other words, you are currently making the last branches superfluous?
No certainly not.
Branches will never go away entirely.
But the number of branches is not the yardstick for a bank's service.
We adapt to changed customer behavior and use the possibilities of digitization.
The boundaries between branches, online and mobile banking are increasingly disappearing.
Is the number of branches that HVB still has appropriate, or do you want to close more?
It's a breathing system.
Closing branches is not an end in itself.
There are certainly highly frequented locations.
But there are also some for which we have now noticed during the crisis that customers are choosing other access routes.
It has to be said that we reduced our branch network years ago.
With us, the pressure to cut costs is no longer as great as with other banks.
Basically, the human factor will never be lost in banks.
On the other hand, you have to offer customers the services they are looking for, every route and at any time.
In this regard, Corona has proven to be a catalyst for development.
Either you adjust your processes or you have a problem.
What exactly is changing?
There are structural changes that are now coming much faster than they would have come without Corona.
Something has been set in motion that cannot be turned back when we are all vaccinated.
What will happen to the city centers, what will happen to office properties?
How do you deal with leadership in the future?
We have managers who haven't seen their team live for a year.
The employees have to be motivated online.
It's not that trivial at all, it not only requires training, but also trust.
As a bank, you have your finger on the pulse of the Bavarian economy.
What is the mood?
You have to differentiate very much.
The companies that depend on export are doing surprisingly well because the economy in Asia has picked up so much.
The companies that are fundamentally affected by lockdowns *, i.e. catering, trade fair construction and so on, naturally suffer.
All in all, the mood is not that bad.
At the beginning of the second lockdown, for example, we as a bank prepared ourselves for a flood of applications for economic aid or loans.
That was almost completely absent.
Today the demand is still close to zero.
Do you expect that the much anticipated bankruptcy wave will not materialize?
I think we will feel a strong catch-up effect when the economy picks up again.
It is questionable whether all consumption can be made up for in 2021, but the need for it is great.
You just have to assume from yourself how much you would like to go out to eat, go shopping or travel again.
As of today, I assume that the very big wave of bankruptcies will not materialize.
The interview was conducted by Corinna Maier, Georg Anastasiadis and Sebastian Hölzle.
* Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.