OpenLobby.EU
Explore

Bundesverband der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken

BVR

The BVR is the umbrella association for Germany's cooperative banking sector, representing Volksbanken, Raiffeisenbanken and related institutions.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Almoro Rubin De Cervin (Head of Unit Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union)

3 Dec 2025 · Banking policy

Meeting with Ralf Seekatz (Member of the European Parliament)

2 Dec 2025 · Spar- und Investitionsunion

Meeting with Nicolo Brignoli (Cabinet of Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis)

25 Jun 2025 · Digital euro

Meeting with Maria Luís Albuquerque (Commissioner) and

10 Jun 2025 · Information exchange

Meeting with Irene Tinagli (Member of the European Parliament)

10 Jun 2025 · Introductory meeting

Meeting with Yann Germaine (Acting Head of Unit Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union)

16 May 2025 · Exchange of views on the reform of the bank crisis management and deposit insurance framework (CMDI review)

Meeting with Markus Ferber (Member of the European Parliament)

10 Apr 2025 · Banking Union

Meeting with Vincent Hurkens (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné)

18 Mar 2025 · Banking Union / Savings and Investments Union, Framework for financial data access.

Meeting with Yann Germaine (Acting Head of Unit Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union)

19 Feb 2025 · Exchange of views on the reform of the CMDI and future of EDIS

Meeting with René Repasi (Member of the European Parliament) and Bundesverband deutscher Banken e.V. and

19 Feb 2025 · Austausch zu aktuellen Fragen der europäischen Finanzmarktpolitik

Meeting with Aurore Lalucq (Member of the European Parliament, Committee chair) and Bundesverband deutscher Banken e.V. and

19 Feb 2025 · Commission Work Programme and coming legislative proposals

Meeting with Luděk Niedermayer (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

19 Feb 2025 · CMDI

Meeting with John Berrigan (Director-General Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union)

12 Dec 2024 · Expectations for the new mandate, CMDI/EDIS

Meeting with René Repasi (Member of the European Parliament) and Bundesverband deutscher Banken e.V. and

16 Oct 2024 · Working breakfast with German banking industry committee

Meeting with Antoine Bégasse (Cabinet of Commissioner Mairead Mcguinness), Florian Denis (Cabinet of Commissioner Mairead Mcguinness)

26 Sept 2024 · Digital finance, crisis management framework

Meeting with Andreas Schwab (Member of the European Parliament)

24 Sept 2024 · Eu competitiveness

Meeting with Valdis Dombrovskis (Executive Vice-President)

22 Feb 2024 · CMU, digital euro, CMDI

Meeting with Gerassimos Thomas (Director-General Taxation and Customs Union)

21 Feb 2024 · Physical meeting - Discussion covering various tax issues in relation to the financial sector and notably the CMU

Meeting with Florian Denis (Cabinet of Commissioner Mairead Mcguinness)

14 Feb 2024 · CMDI Digital Euro

Meeting with Rasmus Andresen (Member of the European Parliament)

17 Jan 2024 · CDMI

Meeting with Daniel Caspary (Member of the European Parliament) and Stiftung Familienunternehmen und Politik

14 Nov 2023 · Austausch

Meeting with Rasmus Andresen (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur) and Deutsche Börse AG

10 Nov 2023 · ESG ratings

Meeting with Frances Fitzgerald (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

11 Oct 2023 · FIDA

Meeting with Gilles Boyer (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

20 Sept 2023 · Digital euro

Meeting with Alin Mituța (Member of the European Parliament)

20 Sept 2023 · Digital Euro

Response to Banking Union: Review of the bank crisis management and deposit insurance framework (SRMR review)

30 Aug 2023

The National Association of German Cooperative Banks (Bundesverband der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken e.V. BVR) is in favour of improving crisis management for credit institutions. However, we are afraid that this welcomed goal will not be achieved by the amendments proposed with the CMDI Review. Instead, the legislative proposal would considerably impair the performance of the well-established national deposit-based guarantee schemes and in particular such that are acknowledged as institutional protection schemes. Ultimately, the BVR fears that the proposal is a threat to the structure of the German banking market and to financial stability as a whole. Aside from this, we consider it essential to incorporate some clarifications in terms of contributions to the resolution fund. A more detailed explamation on the aforementioned aspects is attached to this comment.
Read full response

Response to Banking Union: Review of the bank crisis management and deposit insurance framework (DGSD review)

30 Aug 2023

The National Association of German Cooperative Banks (Bundesverband der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken e.V. BVR) is in favour of improving crisis management for credit institutions. However, we are afraid that this welcomed goal will not be achieved by the amendments proposed with the CMDI Review. Instead, the legislative proposal would considerably impair the performance of the well-established national deposit-based guarantee schemes and in particular such that are acknowledged as institutional protection schemes. Ultimately, the BVR fears that the proposal is a threat to the structure of the German banking market and to financial stability as a whole. A detailed statement is attached to this comment.
Read full response

Meeting with Pascal Arimont (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

11 Jul 2023 · Harmonising certain aspects of insolvency law

Meeting with Frances Fitzgerald (Member of the European Parliament)

3 Jul 2023 · Retail Investment Strategy

Meeting with Rasmus Andresen (Member of the European Parliament)

7 Jun 2023 · CMDI

Meeting with John Berrigan (Director-General Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union) and Deutscher Sparkassen-und Giroverband

7 Jun 2023 · CMDI review

Meeting with René Repasi (Member of the European Parliament)

30 May 2023 · Austausch zu finanzpolitischen Themen/ Exchange on financial policy issues

Meeting with Frances Fitzgerald (Member of the European Parliament)

24 May 2023 · Harmonising insolvency law

Meeting with Joachim Schuster (Member of the European Parliament)

4 May 2023 · Banking Regulation

Meeting with Mairead McGuinness (Commissioner) and

28 Mar 2023 · Round-Table on Digital Euro (with EVP Dombrovskis and DG FISMA)

Meeting with Valeria Miceli (Cabinet of President Ursula von der Leyen)

28 Mar 2023 · Crisis Management and Deposit Insurance Framework Review

Meeting with John Berrigan (Director-General Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union) and Bundesverband deutscher Banken e.V. and

21 Mar 2023 · CMDI, Digital Euro

Meeting with Valeria Miceli (Cabinet of President Ursula von der Leyen)

1 Mar 2023 · They wanted to share concerns on Retail Investment Strategy and in particular ban on inducements

Meeting with Esther De Lange (Member of the European Parliament)

30 Jan 2023 · CMDI - APA

Meeting with Agnieszka Drzewoska (Cabinet of Commissioner Mairead Mcguinness) and Bundesverband deutscher Banken e.V. and

18 Jan 2023 · Retail Investment Strategy

Meeting with Andrea Beltramello (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis) and Bundesverband deutscher Banken e.V. and

18 Jan 2023 · Retail investment strategy. ETFs.

Response to DMA Implementing Regulation

26 Dec 2022

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, please find the statement attached. Best regards David Paul, MBA
Read full response

Meeting with Florian Denis (Cabinet of Commissioner Mairead Mcguinness)

24 Oct 2022 · digital euro

Meeting with René Repasi (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur for opinion)

14 Jul 2022 · Bankenabwicklung, CSDD

Meeting with Joachim Schuster (Member of the European Parliament) and Deutsche Bank AG and

21 Jun 2022 · Banking package

Meeting with Axel Voss (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

20 Apr 2021 · Sustainable Corporate Governance

Response to Instant Payments

7 Apr 2021

The National Association of German Cooperative Banks (BVR e. V.) is the umbrella association of the cooperative banking sector in Germany. The “Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken Cooperative Financial Network” (Genossenschaftliche FinanzGruppe Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken) is the Cooperative Banking Group in Germany with currently (end of 2020) 814 individual small and medium regional oriented cooperative banks. We are pleased to submit our first feedback and comments on the European Commission´s “roadmap on instant payments” as one part of the EU Retail Payments Strategy. We welcome the political efforts to support all these developments in a preferred market-driven way. The following aspects are important in our view for further consideration. It should primarily support European market initiatives in general. Our member banks support the idea of instant payments and we were involved in the development of this new fast payment method from the beginning. Today the vast majority of our member banks are participants of the EPC “SCT Inst”-Scheme and offer appropriate payments to their customers. So instant payments have been well adopted by the market now for the first relevant use cases. New solutions and services have been implemented or now are under development (e.g. actual initiatives with several solutions for further use cases). The existing scheme for SEPA instant payments (SCT Inst) is adequate to efficiently and sufficiently cover the current market needs. Within this context, instant payments should not be understood as a general substitute for the well-established mass payment instruments, which are cost-efficient for customers and banks. We consider instant payments as an enrichment and not as a replacement of existing “traditional” / ”standard” payment instruments (e.g. regular credit transfer and / or direct debit) with its different characteristics and relevant market needs. From a market perspective, instant payments address specific demands and should be considered as a payment instrument in its own right. The customers on the payer and payee side should have the choice. The consultation should therefore include questions aimed to all relevant customers (e.g. consumers, corporates, SMEs, public institutions etc.) if and how instant payments could be an enrichment or a change in the payment behaviour. We do not support any mandatory fee levels or legal intervention in this area, in particular it would be an unjustified intervention into the price building mechanisms of the market. In order to support the further market driven way and establishment of instant payment an extension of the exemption period of the SEPA regulation 260/2012 (article 4 para. 4), e. g. by additional two years would be useful. Especially to have the relevant cross-border reach it is important to ensure interoperability between the different infrastructure providers of CSM’s. In this context, a mandatory participation by all types banks, especially smaller or highly specialised institutions, do not offer electronic payment accounts for customers continues to be inappropriate. We would therefore request the European Commission to very carefully consider any further actions, if any, in this field. A general market-driven approach should be the preferred way forward.
Read full response

Meeting with Andrea Beltramello (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis) and Bundesverband deutscher Banken e.V. and

7 Apr 2021 · Basel III

Meeting with Axel Voss (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

29 Mar 2021 · Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence

Response to Banking Union: Review of the bank crisis management and deposit insurance framework (SRMR review)

8 Dec 2020

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, das Feedback des Bundesverbandes der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken - BVR - finden Sie in der anhängenden Datei. Mit freundlichen Grüßen BVR i.A. Frank Kürten
Read full response

Meeting with John Berrigan (Director-General Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union)

8 Jul 2020 · MiFiD Quick-Fix, Basel III, taxonomy and sustainable finance

Meeting with Paulina Dejmek Hack (Cabinet of President Jean-Claude Juncker)

25 Jul 2019 · Financial policy

Meeting with Jan Ceyssens (Cabinet of Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis)

7 Feb 2019 · EDIS, NPLs, Proportionality

Meeting with Günther Oettinger (Commissioner)

3 Sept 2018 · MFF / InvestEU

Response to Legislative proposal for an EU framework on crowd and peer to peer finance

24 Nov 2017

Der Bundesverband der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken (BVR) als Dachverband des Genossenschaftsbankensektors in Deutschland begrüßt die Initiative der Europäischen Kommission, die Rahmenbedingungen für Crowdfunding-Finanzierungen insbesondere an innovative Unternehmen, Start-ups und wachsende Unternehmen zu untersuchen und daraus Handlungsoptionen mit Blick auf einen eventuell legislativen Rahmen auf EU-Ebene für Crowdfunding abzuleiten. Im Rahmen ihrer aktuellen Folgenabschätzung in der Anfangsphase (Inception Impact Assessment) hat die Europäische Kommission am 30. Oktober 2017 ein Papier veröffentlicht, zu dem wir gern die Möglichkeit der Stellungnahme wahrnehmen. Wir teilen die Einschätzung der Europäischen Kommission, dass für die stärkere Nutzung von Crowdfunding die Zuverlässigkeit der Crowdfunding-Plattformen von großer Bedeutung ist. Als größte Risiken für künftiges Wachstum von Crowdfunding werden von der Europäischen Kommission der Finanzierungsausfall, betrügerische Geschäftsaktivitäten oder der Zusammenbruch der Crowdfunding-Plattformen aufgrund von schlechter Geschäftsführung genannt. Zu beachten ist, dass die Betreiber von Crowdfunding-Plattformen keine Haftung für die Richtigkeit der Angaben zum Finanzierungsvorhaben übernehmen. Den von der Europäischen Kommission angesprochenen Aspekt der Vermeidung geschäftspolitischer Interessenkonflikte der Crowdfunding-Plattformen hat die deutsche Bundesregierung bereits aufgegriffen und vorgeschlagen, aus Risikogründen künftig Vermögensanlagen eines Emittenten zum öffentlichen Angebot nicht mehr zuzulassen, wenn auf der Führungsebene eine enge personelle Verbindung zwischen Emittent und Plattform besteht. Andernfalls bestünde die Gefahr, dass eine objektive Beurteilung des Angebots der Vermögensanlage durch die Plattform kaum gegeben sein dürfte und die Plattform die vorgesehene Intermediärfunktion nicht erfüllt. Da es sich bei Crowdfunding, aber umso mehr bei Crowdinvesting aufgrund der nachrangigen Gläubigerstellung um eine hoch risikobehaftete Geldanlage handelt, bei der der Totalverlust des eingesetzten Kapitals drohen kann, kommt dem Anlegerschutz eine besondere Bedeutung zu. Diesen Aspekt hat der deutsche Gesetzgeber aufgegriffen und partiarische Darlehen und Nachrangdarlehen in die Regelungen des Vermögensanlagengesetzes aufgenommen. Damit reagierte der deutsche Gesetzgeber auf Umgehungsstrukturen, die Crowdinvesting-Plattformen zuvor nutzten. Um den Crowdinvesting-Markt nicht zu stark zu reglementieren, wurden bestimmte Schwellenwerte für den je Emittent einzuwerbenden Gesamtbetrag der Vermögensanlagen und die Einzelanlagen festgelegt, ab denen erst die Prospektpflicht gilt. Gleichwohl sehen wir bei künftigen Regulierungsbewertungen in diesem Kontext ein entscheidendes Betätigungsfeld, um z.B. durch Transparenz- und Aufklärungspflichten seitens der Plattformbetreiber Anleger entsprechend über die Risiken solcher Investments zu informieren und eine objektive Rendite-Risiko-Abwägung vornehmen zu können. Angesichts der bestehenden Regelungen zum Crowdfunding in einzelnen EU-Mitgliedsstaaten wie beispielsweise Deutschland sprechen wir uns dafür aus, die von der Europäischen Kommission vorgeschlagene Lösungsoption 2 (Building on reputational capital – a self-regulatory approach with minimum standards) weiterzuverfolgen. Auf diesem Wege lassen sich anhand von Best-Practice-Fällen und einzelstaatlichen Regelungen (nicht-bindende) Minimumstandards für Crowdlending und Crowdinvesting entwickeln. Die Minimumstandards können dann auch für grenzüberschreitende Transaktionen zugrunde gelegt werden.
Read full response

Meeting with Jan Ceyssens (Cabinet of Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis), Kai Wynands (Cabinet of Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis) and

5 Sept 2017 · Banking Union; ESA review; CRR/CRD; PSD2

Response to Review of Regulation on cross-border payments

24 Jul 2017

The National Association of German Cooperative Banks (BVR) as the umbrella association of the cooperative banking sector in Germany represents 972 small and medium-sized regional banks. We see no need for an action to extend Regulation (EC) 924/2009 to all currencies or other EU currencies. Generally speaking we believe that charges/fees for cross-border payments in EU currencies (or other currencies) other than the euro are not excessive. The legislator shall not intervene in the marked driven setting of fees (principle of freedom to stablish fees via bilateral or multilateral agreements). Charges for cross-border payments in an EU currency other than the national currency or in the currency of a non-EU country are higher for a reason. They require the PSP in question to buy or sell the currency on the relevant market for that currency. This entails higher costs than for euro-denominated national and cross-border payments within the EU. Fees for cross-border and national payments in this case can therefore not be identical. Non-legislative options to maintain the status quo such as encouraging market initiatives that bring more transparency to cross-border transactions costs should be a better way.
Read full response

Response to Revision of the EU SME Definition

5 Jul 2017

The National Association of German Cooperative Banks (BVR) as the umbrella association for the cooperative banking sector in Germany welcomes the evaluation of the current financial thresholds for the SME definition. According to the developments in inflation and productivity since 2003 the thresholds should be risen. Looking at the increase of the inflation rate of nearly 30 per cent between 2003 and 2016 we are in favour of an increase of the thresholds by at least 30 per cent. As the new thresholds should be practically and easily used also in the coming years we propose the following new thresholds for the SME definition: annual turnover: EUR 75 million balance sheet total: EUR 65 million number of employees: 300
Read full response

Meeting with Jan Ceyssens (Cabinet of Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis)

30 Mar 2017 · White Paper; EMU

Meeting with Jan Ceyssens (Cabinet of Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis)

11 Jul 2016 · EDIS

Meeting with Valdis Dombrovskis (Vice-President) and Deutscher Sparkassen-und Giroverband

17 Feb 2016 · Hessische Reginalbankenkonferenz

Meeting with Günther Oettinger (Commissioner)

6 Nov 2015 · EMU

Meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker (President) and

5 Nov 2015 · Address to the Wirtschaftstag of the Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken "Prosperity – Liberty – Security: Scenarios for a Changing World"

Meeting with Jonathan Hill (Commissioner)

3 Nov 2015 · System of the German cooperative bankis + EDIS

Meeting with Markus Schulte (Digital Economy)

15 Oct 2015 · EMU

Meeting with Valdis Dombrovskis (Vice-President) and

21 Sept 2015 · Deposit insurance/Banking Union

Meeting with Günther Oettinger (Commissioner)

21 Sept 2015 · digitale Projekte