The German economy is still driven to a great extent by exports. Although world markets presently face a slowdown in trade, Germany remains one of the top Export Nations giving banks with an international network and structuring capabilities excellent business opportunities.
Germany has also one of the highest per capita savings rates in comparison to other nations. Therefore Germany is a key investor market for many asset classes with a total managed asset volume of trillions of Euros. Compared to its European neighbours, our country is over-banked and slow in reforming its banking sector. In principal the German Banking system is based on three pillars: the Private Banks, the Public Sector and the Cooperative Banks plus some special banks. Together they have about 88 % market stake whereas the foreign banks can only record a share of 12 %. After the Lehman crisis, we have seen some consolidations at the level of foreign banks but to a lesser degree at public sector banks.

Over the past three years the profile of Calyon in Germany has positively changed. After the merger in 2004, the bank was mainly recognised as a lending bank with a strong expertise in Export and Trade Finance. Since then many more products have successfully been developed in Capital Markets and Structured Finance. In the last two years we have stepped up in league tables in loan syndication, leverage finance and more prominently in corporate bonds. Recently we have added more experts to our small local Investment Banking platform to provide enhanced advisory services in Equity Capital Markets and Merger & Acquisitions. It can be truly stated that Calyon in Germany is now seen by its clients as a leading foreign bank with a strong international foothold and high structuring skills.