As of: March 29, 2024, 2:04 p.m
By: Josef Ametsbichler
Comments
Press
Split
“The state wants to clear away the cash. The customer has to justify himself – and we take over the checking for the state,” says bank CEO Bernhard Failer, here in the locker room of his house. © Stefan Rossmann
Cash is on the decline - but there are places where it is being hoarded en masse. For many people, cash means a bit of freedom, says Bernhard Failer, head of Raiffeisen-Volksbank Ebersberg. A visit to the security area.
Grafing
– Bernhard Failer struggles with the cash box's drawer lid that is stuck. It's hanging crooked for a while, but it reveals stacks of euro notes. On the far left a lonely 500, actually abolished, that someone paid in. The head of Raiffeisen-Volksbank (RV-Bank) Ebersberg has a good 30,000 euros. The 52-year-old appreciates this with a practiced banker's eye. Everything that the currency offers in the form of coins, special coins and notes.
Well-ironed notes for the money tree
“The nice bills are here,” he says. The bank employees pay out withdrawal requests of up to 10,000 euros from the cash register. These over-the-counter payments are often used by customers who hang new or well-ironed notes on a money tree for a wedding couple or put them in an envelope for their grandchildren. “It’s still a sought-after commodity,” says the bank boss about the cash that comes in and out of his branches over the counter and through the ATMs.
So sought after that it also attracts dark characters. A few years ago, unknown people in the Grafinger branch of the cooperative bank forced open two ATMs, presumably with rescue spreaders, and escaped with a six-figure sum. The bank has made further improvements, the boss indicates. Security areas, cameras, motion detectors, vibration sensors, time locks, paint bag cartridges, a direct alarm line to the police and so on and so forth: the shady cover of the cash register is the last and weakest in a series of security measures to protect the RV bank's cash holdings.
Seven-figure euro amounts are always in the basement
The boss reveals that a seven-figure euro amount is always lying in the basement. So over a million euros in bills, somewhere behind a steel door as thick as the length of a femur. Where exactly is a trade secret. It's closed for visitors in the locker room. For insurance reasons, the bank doesn't even show the condition of the door through which the cash inventory goes.
Bernhard Failer opened a cupboard door in the security area. There is a hand basin behind it. It reminds the 52-year-old of his training days, when even more cash passed through the hands of bankers - due to a lack of counting machines and card payment terminals. “It’s a manual business,” he says. The money from the butcher's till smelled like smoked bacon, the money from the disco party smelled like alcohol. No way, money doesn't stink. And the banker's fingers were black after counting. “That’s when you realize how dirty cash is,” says the bank boss with a smile.
Bank boss Bernhard Failer: For many people, cash means freedom
He still likes it. “For many it means freedom,” says Failer about the anonymity of cash payments. He will never forget how there was once five million in cash on the table in front of him, which an insecure business customer transferred from the account to the safe during the 2008/2009 financial crisis. “It’s not that much,” he remembers, shaping the dimensions of a briefcase with his hands. “But then you'll feel different,” he says of the moment when banker professionalism is put to the test.
My news
F-16 fighter jets shot down: Putin threatens to attack NATO airfields
Quake in the construction industry: Read the bankruptcy of a large German real estate company
Cheese recall: Federal Office warns of health risks – according to the RKI, three groups are particularly susceptible to focus reading
Meloni takes action: Italy cancels the “super bonus” read
Silent holiday before Easter – What are you allowed to do on Good Friday in Bavaria? read
She had planned Gottschalk's visit to BR completely differently: Schöneberger lost his composure
RV-Bank only has payouts of more than 10,000 euros a few times a week in the three branches Ebersberg, Grafing and Zorneding that still offer this service. Customers who regularly deposit larger amounts must pay fees. In some shops this amounts to around 1000 euros per month. This causes a lack of understanding among customers. But Bernhard Failer says: “For us, the cash business is an enormous expense in monetary terms.”
Cash transactions involve a lot of effort for banks
Everyone knows that there are fees for the merchant when paying by card. The fact that frictional losses are much higher with cash is a rather unpopular insight among traditionalists: a “cash recycler”, as the deposit machine is called in technical jargon, costs 60,000 euros plus a maintenance contract. The RV bank pays a six-figure euro amount per year just for transporting money. Plus the insurance fees, testing and safety precautions. “Physical goods cause physical costs,” says the bank boss.
He compares the problem with the supposed increase in value of vintage cars: over the years, these have led to repair and garage costs that some owners underestimate. “That’s how it is with custody costs,” says the banker. Hence the fees for coin rolls and deposits - the handling costs for cash have long been too high for the bank to be able to offer them as a free service.
Money laundering: The customer has to justify himself
The fight against money laundering and tax evasion has also been making itself felt for around a decade. “The state wants to clear away the cash,” diagnoses Failer. For example, through proof requirements for deposits, currently for amounts over 10,000 euros. “The customer has to justify himself – and we take over the checking for the state.” Or through standard batch sizes from the central banks, which the Raiffeisen warehouse would actually be able to cope with in terms of transport capacity. For all these reasons, cash seems to be increasingly falling behind compared to card payments. Bank CEO Failer summarizes: “It’s in circulation, but it’s expensive.”
You can find more news in our brand new Merkur.de app, now in an improved design with more personalization functions. Directly available for download, more information can be found here. Are you an enthusiastic user of WhatsApp? Merkur.de will now keep you up to date via a new Whatsapp channel. Click here to go directly to the channel.