When IBB’s Executive Board team, Heike Kemmner and Stephan Waiblinger, reflect on the year 2023, you will wait in vain for the moaning and lamenting that is so common in the business world.

There are two reasons for this. Firstly, because there is not much to complain about. IBB has – once again – managed to buck the general trend and put in a very respectable financial year. Secondly, because the bank lives by a philosophy that sees opportunity in everything. “You have to use even negative influences positively – as an opportunity for new ideas!” is how Heike Kemmner puts it. But first things first.

The bank works incredibly well

“Incredibly good” is an attribute that is rarely heard in connection with banks. Both in terms of content and form. And certainly not in 2023. But IBB is not like any other bank. That’s why Stephan Waiblinger doesn’t mince his words and says things the way they are meant. And in this case, “incredibly good” is the most appropriate formulation. Because when a bank delivers one of its best operating results ever in the midst of a global crisis, it is not only good, but for some it is almost uncanny. How does IBB always manage to impress with good figures despite all the adversity? “Inner strength,” is the unanimous answer of the two, and they point first and foremost to the business model and the employees.

The business model works

IBB has four main pillars – commercial real estate financing, corporate customers, sports financing and private banking. The four divisions can be seen as a team: Each division has its own individual strengths and if things don’t go so well for one, the others step in. In this way, the bank as a whole remains stable even in stormy times. And stormy times are actually always stormy.

The coronavirus crisis was also a soccer crisis. When there were hardly any games, there were also fewer transfers and therefore less need to finance them. It was nice to be able to rely on real estate financing during this time. But times have changed. The stadiums are full and the construction sites are empty. In 2023, the bank logically scores with good figures in sports financing. And because it had already been more restrictive in real estate financing since 2022, demanded more collateral and put even more energy into worthwhile projects, it was able to achieve a respectable result there too.

Transparent, fair, honest

In turn, the rise in interest rates was a welcome tailwind for the private customer business. The bank was able to attract many new customers with highly attractive cash products such as call money. “Transparent, fair, honest – that’s how we want to do business.” You can tell that this topic is close to Heike Kemmner’s heart. She allows her customers to benefit as directly as possible from the rise in interest rates. So everyone wins: the customer enjoys optimal interest income. And the bank benefits from attractive private customer deposits, which represent a more attractive financing option than institutional investments. The growing deposits also provide additional stability.

2024

Das Beste, was man mit der Vergangenheit machen kann: Man kann aus ihr lernen. Denn, so formulieren es beide Vorstände: „Die Herausforderungen bleiben und wir nehmen sie ins nächste Jahr [also 2024] mit hinein.“

Schwarze Schwäne

So what has the bank learned from all the unusual events of the past few years – coronavirus, Ukraine, the interest rate turnaround, the energy price explosion, inflation? First and foremost this: there is no longer a “normal”. Every single one of these events would have been thought impossible until it happened. A black swan. But the fact is: the black swans are here to stay. And who knows: maybe they’re not actually black at all, but gray. Or simply the new white – the normality that everyone has to deal with.

A positive outlook for the future

So Friedrichshafen is looking positively to the future. You have to see the challenge as an opportunity: Interest rates are high? Well – objectively speaking, we are still in a phase of low interest rates. Our parents’ generation had to struggle with interest rates of 10% and more. But they also made it. Has the world become more agile? Then as a bank you have to be even more agile in order to benefit from it. Agility makes you successful: in private banking, you have managed to achieve better performance for customers in four out of four risk classes than the relevant peer group. No matter what the customer is looking for, and no matter what the times require, the customer can find it. From asset management to simple cash products.

The foundations for what the two call a “forward strategy” have therefore been laid and it will be possible to implement them, as the bank’s culture and staff are designed to implement long-term plans in a volatile manner. According to Kemmner and Waiblinger, this requires a new type of employee – people who are always willing and able to change. IBB provides such people with the right environment. They are allowed to work in heterogeneous teams in which the young, impetuous ones are allowed to push ahead, but the experienced ones are always involved. Everyone learns from everyone. In this way, everyone can contribute what is most beneficial to the bank.

The two Management Board members therefore expect only good things for 2024 – a continuation of the past. The bank will remain on the move, open up new areas and go through the doors that will open. We are already familiar with a few of these – operational financing as part of succession planning or a greater market presence for private banking. New, additional opportunities will arise and the bank will seize them. Because: “We are moving into the future with commitment and courage. And that begins in the present.”

Annual report 2023 as download

View the 2023 annual report online