Germany

Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance today announced that it has joined forces with Bertelsmann Finance Service GMBH to provide invoice discounting services to German businesses.

VR Diskontbank, the German-based co-operative bank offering financial services in the areas of factoring and central regulation, last year showed turnover down by 8 per cent to DM22.5bn in a year-on-year comparison.

The results of a representative survey conducted and recently released by Siemens Financial Services in Cooperation with the University of Augsburg and TNS EMNID have shown that liquidity requirements are increasingly causing German companies to l

DG Bank, which owns the factoring company DG Diskonbank, is to merge with GZ Bank, it was agreed on Tuesday. The union will create the country's sixth largest bank with assets of E370bn ($340bn).

Euro Sales Finance plc, the pan-European provider of sales finance solutions, today announced the appointment of Gerd Georg as director of its new Frankfurt business.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schrцder, referring to his country’s reputation for high taxes and low growth, has declared that “The German disease is over.” Reforms last month have cut the tax burdens of incorporated companies from 40% to 20% (effect

The factoring market in Germany has remained fairly steady in the last few months, with DG Bank continuing their dominance of the market. It remains to be seen whether Eurofactors will live up to their potential and stir up the market.

The bank is a market leader in Germany in the field of factoring, but has suffered a drop recently in its market share - from 24 to 21 per cent - through the loss of a major client.

Deutsche Factoring Bnak increased turnover by 8% to about 1.8bn euros in 1999. Annual net profits rose by 1% to 20.6 m euros. They expect domestic business to grow in the coming months, despite growing pressure to manage costs.