They rank among Germany's largest banks. They function as bankers to their state governments and are active in wholesale banking. Those customers of the savings banks involved in foreign business activities are primarily small and medium-sized firms that expect their banks to provide them with a full range of international services. The S dwestdeutsche Landesbank in Stuttgart and the Bayerische Landesbank in Munich will participate in this project. Indian exporters have access to many German firms of any size through the network of the German Landesbanken.
Savings banks operate all over the world.
In developing countries, savings banks play an essential role in furthering savings propensity and savings deposits as a prerequisite for the formation of capital essential to financing investments. Since the beginning of the 1980s, the German Savings Banks Organisation has been working with savings bank institutions in countries of the third world, helping them to develop into modern and efficient credit institutions.