On the discussion of a sale of the German Postbank to Deutsche Bank, Sahra Wagenknecht, member of the executive of the LEFT PARTY and of the European Parliament, states:

For the employees the newest push for concentration in the bank sector is a complete catastrophe: already the 10 billion Euros take-over of Dresdner Bank by Commerzbank is going to destroy approximately 9000 jobs. At West LB 1350 jobs are to be cut, that means that every fourth job will fall prey to the crisis-induced restructuring. And now, Deutsche Bank also reaches out to buy Postbank...

Of course, German trade union ver.di wisely negotiated a job guarantee until 2011 for the apprximately 21,000 employees. However, even the trade union knows that the sale will threaten many thousands of jobs. And not only the employees, also the consumers will yet have to suffer from the "consolidation" of the bank sector. Because fewer banks mean fewer branch offices, less choice, and increasing prices. It needs to be taken into account in this context that the Postbank already now handles 20 percent of domestic money transfers. If monopoly-type structures were to emerge here – which after a take-over by Deutsche Bank is no longer unlikely – this would have fatal consequences for all consumers. All this can be seen in those countries where the concentration process has already further advanced.

A sale of Postbank would destroy thousands of jobs and worsen the service for bank and post consumers. Added to that is the fact that the moment to sell could hardly be worse: In fact, the market value of Postbank in the last months has fallen by three billion Euros to only seven billion Euros. Yet, it is not only a matter of the moment – the sale of a bank that with over 14 million customers counts among the leading German retail banks and due to solid business management has only suffered little from the financial crisis makes no sense at all. Both the executive of the German Post Inc. as well as the federal government as large stakeholder of German Post can and must prevent this sale!

Sahra Wagenknecht
Brussels, 11 September 2008