German Banking Industry Committee


The German Banking Industry Committee , previously known as the Central Credit Committee is an industry association of the German banking industry. Its decisions are held normative for the national banking sector – either directly by interbank treaties or indirectly by preparing a corresponding ministerial or Bundesbank decision.

History

Until August 2011, the association was known as the Central Credit Committee when it adopted a new name.

Structure

The Central Credit Committee was founded in 1932 as a common interest group of the five federal interest groups that represent the financial sector in Germany.
The five founding associations are:
By indirection of these associations the Central Credit Committee represents 2,300 financial institutions. The committee itself is not an institution – it is neither registered, nor does it have a postal address. The committee presidency changes annually rotating among the associations for private banks, for savings banks and for co-operative banks.
The Central Credit Committee resolves "common statements" representing the view of the German banking industry on a topic. The statements are published thereby influencing decisions of other institutions like the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, the Bundesbank or decision-making bodies of the European Union. Publication and press releases are the main task of the presiding association.
Additionally the Central Credit Committee supervises joint committees of the German banking industry like the Central Competition Committee or the Working Group on Automatic Teller Machines.

Standards in electronic banking

The Central Credit Committee has created the standards in electronic banking which are resolved by proposing agreements that are joined by the banking institutions. Banking institutions that are members of one of the associations in the ZKA are naturally bound to join these.
The creation of the single market of the European Union and the introduction of the Eurozone has made for a shift to make decisions on a European scale. As a consequence the European Committee for Banking Standards was founded in December 1992 and the European Payments Council was created in summer 2002. These drive the development of the Single Euro Payments Area and the ZKA is supervising the EPC working groups by creating their own ZKA working groups mirroring the structure of the EPC.