Sparkassen and development cooperation
The German Sparkassenstiftung for International Cooperation (DSIK) is the development-policy arm of the German Sparkassen Finance Group. Its task is to disseminate the successful Sparkassen model across regional borders and around the globe. By enabling people in developing countries and emerging economies to access financial services, it aims to
create opportunities that will allow them to leave poverty behind. In the mid-1960s, the German Sparkassen Finance Group received first requests from African and Latin American countries to advise and support microfinance institutions and regional banks in their institutional development. This marked the beginning of anintensive and sustainable commitment of the German Sparkassen Finance Group to development-political issues. For many years, the Deutscher Sparkassen-und Giroverband (German Savings Banks Association – DSGV) has pursued this mission, which was intensified, systematised and professionalised in 1992 with the foundation of the Deutsche Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation e.V., headquartered in Bonn. For more than 200 years now, the German Sparkassen have shown that financial inclusion can be successfully and sustainably achieved, when organised efficiently and done professionally. Today, German Sparkassenstiftung is one of the largest private development organisations in Germany. Worldwide, German Sparkassenstiftung employs some 380 staff members, with about 40 people working at its headquarters in Bonn. About 280 international and local experts are working as resident consultants in the project countries. In addition to that, German Sparkassenstiftung deploys more than 230 experts (including about 100 Sparkassen staff) per year as short-term consultants in projects in developing countries and emerging economies.
