Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken


Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken is a brand of co-operative banks in Germany. "Volksbank" derives from People's Bank institutes and "Raiffeisenbanken" refers to banks founded on initiatives by Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen. Many co-operative banks in Germany have either "Volksbank" or "Raiffeisenbank" in their name – the nationwide services and associations in the co-operative branch of the German financing industry used the compound of the plurals of these words.
The national association is the Bundesverband der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken.

FinanzVerbund

The Bundesverband der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken has introduced the "FinanzVerbund" or Finanzverbund Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken combining a number of subsidiaries.
Note how some financial institutes use variants of the Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken brand, its abbreviation "VR" or the older brand "R+V". The scheme of a corporate identity and a franchise market where a brand and product structure is licensed is a modern invention that came about long after most co-operatives were founded, so many financial institutes continue with their historic name. Nevertheless, most of the co-operative financial institutes have changed to the blue-orange color of the Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken brand.
The 'Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken' group in Germany is not associated with the 'Volksbank' institutes in other countries, like the Volksbank group headquartered in Austria. Likewise 'Raiffeisen' is more generic than banks and it is often used in other co-operation types in the farming industry, see Deutscher Genossenschafts- und Raiffeisenverband.