The Bundeskartellamt has no objections to the "Kwitt" payment function by which savings banks customers in Germany will in future be able to transfer money from one mobile phone to another. The authority had to examine the project as this kind of joint development between what are otherwise independent savings banks could restrict competition.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: "The offer of the joint computer centre of the savings banks to integrate this payment function into the banks' apps enables the participating savings banks and their customers to carry out "mobile to mobile payments" within the customers' circle of acquaintances. In the form in which the cooperation was presented to us we have no competition concerns about this project. Our prompt assessment under competition law gives the savings banks legal certainty and enables them to quickly bring their offer onto the market."

The savings banks have announced that they will update their apps with the new function shortly. If all the individual savings banks use this function, the approximately 4.5 million app users can use their smartphone to transfer money to the mobile phone number of a third person. It will also be possible to transfer money to recipients outside the savings banks group. However, the procedure in this case is more complex. Requests for payment, on the other hand, will only be possible between customers who are registered with "Kwitt".

With the offer of this service for savings banks customers, the savings banks group competes in particular with providers which, without belonging to a banking group, offer comparable apps on the market and license them to banks. Savings banks intending to offer their customers this form of payment receive the product from their computer centre and do not have to develop it themselves or buy it from third providers. The Bundeskartellamt assumes that at least the vast majority of the savings banks will make this function available to their customers. The development of "Kwitt" within the savings banks group and its use by the participating savings banks could restrict competition because independent third providers have no direct access to end customers. However, any such restriction is outweighed by considerable efficiencies because with this easy form of money transfer the individual savings bank customer is not limited to transferring money only to customers of his or her own bank.

Against this background and within its scope of discretion, the Bundeskartellamt has decided not to initiate a proceeding.

At the same time as the savings banks' announcement, the joint computer centre of all the German cooperative banks (Volks- und Raiffeisenbanken) announced that it would equip its online banking apps with a comparable payment function, which the individual cooperative banks can offer their customers. As the same considerations apply to this cooperation as to the cooperation between the savings banks group, the Bundeskartellamt has no objections to this project either..

In the meantime there have also been plans between the savings banks and cooperative banks to jointly introduce such a payment function under the project name "Geldbote" ("cash carrier"). Such a cooperation between different banking groups would raise further competition issues because the partners in the cooperation would then have privileged access to a substantial share of the customer basis in Germany. The Bundeskartellamt has not made a final decision on the matter because the project has not been pursued further.