01:15Germany: Where big banks go into crisis, localism thrives
Germany: Where big banks go into crisis, localism thrives
As the European banking system is struggling with the sovereign debt crisis, small German banks have capitalised on the doubts to the global banks and localised. The little German city of Gammesfeld has set up a One Man Bank, in response to consumer concern.
Peter Breiter, owner of the One Man Bank, explained the stringent conditions he put into place to insure localism: "Here we only concentrate on People from Gammesfeld, if you live 10km away, sorry, you can't be a customer. In fact the furthest away one of our customers lives is about 700 metres."
With only 900 customers, Peter believes he can offer something that bigger banks cannot: "People get a personal service here. I know everyone who comes in, of course I do they are my neighbours. This means there's big trust. They aren't just a number or part of a money making machine."
The bank operates only traditional retail banking, meaning that it does not offer any credit card, shares, funds or online banking. It does not even have an ATM; customers have to withdraw their money in the traditional way of approaching the teller.
01:15Germany: Where big banks go into crisis, localism thrives
As the European banking system is struggling with the sovereign debt crisis, small German banks have capitalised on the doubts to the global banks and localised. The little German city of Gammesfeld has set up a One Man Bank, in response to consumer concern.
Peter Breiter, owner of the One Man Bank, explained the stringent conditions he put into place to insure localism: "Here we only concentrate on People from Gammesfeld, if you live 10km away, sorry, you can't be a customer. In fact the furthest away one of our customers lives is about 700 metres."
With only 900 customers, Peter believes he can offer something that bigger banks cannot: "People get a personal service here. I know everyone who comes in, of course I do they are my neighbours. This means there's big trust. They aren't just a number or part of a money making machine."
The bank operates only traditional retail banking, meaning that it does not offer any credit card, shares, funds or online banking. It does not even have an ATM; customers have to withdraw their money in the traditional way of approaching the teller.