Private company

KfW

Logo: KfW Bankengruppe, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons4

German state-owned investment and development bank

The KfW, which together with its subsidiaries DEG, KfW IPEX-Bank and FuB forms the KfW Bankengruppe ("banking group"), is a German state-owned investment and development bank, based in Frankfurt. As of 2025, it is one of the world's leading development banks, ranking third globally by total assets according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute. It also remains Germany's third largest bank overall.2 Its chief executive is Günther Bräunig (since 2018).1 It employed 6,700 people.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

Nov 18, 1948Founded1
  • Industryfinancial service activities, except insurance and pension funding, financial services1
  • HeadquartersBerlin1
  • Websitewww.kfw.de
  • Legal formpublic-law institution1
  • Kind of organizationPublic body1
  • LEI549300GDPG70E3MBBU983
  • StatusActive3
  • LEI statusIssued and current3
  • Registered addressPalmengartenstraße 5-9, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany3

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Westarkade
Photo: Karsten11, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons7

The KfW, which together with its subsidiaries DEG, KfW IPEX-Bank and FuB forms the KfW Bankengruppe ("banking group"), is a German state-owned investment and development bank, based in Frankfurt. As of 2025, it is one of the world's leading development banks, ranking third globally by total assets according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute. It also remains Germany's third largest bank overall. Its name originally comes from Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau ("Credit Institute for Reconstruction"). It was formed in 1948 after World War II as part of the Marshall Plan.2

Corporate structure

KfW sits at the top of its group. 176 entities, 36 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0). Each entity in the chart links to its source.

What it owns

What KfW reports owning in its annual reports to the SEC: buildings, land and equipment, real estate and locations, investments, intangible assets and inventory, at the end of its latest fiscal year and a year before.

Stakes and holdings (Wikidata)

Things Wikidata records the company as owning, with the share when stated.1

Leadership

Who has led KfW, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

Chief executive

  1. Günther Bräunig2018–now
197019801990200020102020

Products and brands

Operations

KfW banking group covers over 90% of its borrowing needs in the capital markets, mainly through bonds that are guaranteed by the federal government. This allows KfW to raise funds at advantageous conditions. Its exemption from having to pay corporate taxes due to its legal status as a public agency and unremunerated equity provided by its public shareholders allow KfW to provide loans for purposes prescribed by the KfW law at lower rates than commercial banks. KfW is not allowed to compete with commercial banks, but it facilitates their business in areas within its mandate. KfW banking group has three business units with distinct functions, as well as several subsidiaries.

Lending by KfW group's two main business units, accounting for more than 90% of total lending, is in Germany and, to a limited extent, in other European countries. However, its largest subsidiary, KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH, predominantly lends internationally. A smaller subsidiary, the German Investment Corporation (DEG), and one of the group's smaller business units, KfW Development Bank, are exclusively active in the international arena, each within their particular business areas.

Subsidiaries and group units

Housing and environment

KfW Förderbank (KfW promotional bank), the group's largest business unit, committed €47.6 billion in 2014, mostly for housing and environmental protection in Germany. By 2024, the unit had shifted its focus toward mobilising private capital for the "green transformation," with a business volume of €111.3 billion.

In the housing sector, it actively promotes energy-efficient construction and affordable housing, having evolved its earlier standards (KfW-40/60) into the current "Federal Funding for Efficient Buildings" (BEG) framework. Regarding environmental protection, its mandate has expanded from early renewable energy incentives to large-scale decarbonisation and offshore wind projects.

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Since 2006, KfW has also been engaged in education by providing student loans to finance living expenses during undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral studies. The loan is independent of the student's or their parents' income and offers monthly disbursements of up to €650 for students at state-recognized universities in Germany.

Small and medium enterprises

KfW Mittelstandsbank (KfW small and medium enterprises bank), the group's second-largest business unit, provides financial assistance to German small and medium enterprises (SMEs), including individual entrepreneurs and start-ups. In addition to standard loans, it offers equity and mezzanine financing to strengthen the capital base of young companies. By 2024, its annual financing volume reached €29.5 billion. The unit's strategy increasingly focuses on digital innovation and the "green transformation" of the German Mittelstand, supported by a group-wide balance sheet total that stood at €545.4 billion at the end of 2024.

KfW has been very active in securitization before this market collapsed during the subprime mortgage crisis. Through securitization it helped commercial banks to transfer risks from their housing and SME portfolios to the capital market. KfW also provides loans to European commercial banks to help them finance SMEs, housing and infrastructure (so-called global loans).

Development aid

KfW Entwicklungsbank (KfW Development Bank) provides financing to governments, public enterprises and commercial banks engaged in microfinance and SME promotion in developing countries. It does so through loans close to market terms using its own resources ("promotional loans"), soft loans that blend KfW resources with support from the federal government's aid budget ("development loans"), as well as highly subsidized loans and grants, the latter two coming entirely from the federal aid budget. Different country groups are offered different financing conditions depending mainly on their per capita income. All these financing instruments are part of what is officially called development cooperation and is often also called "development aid".

In German aid, the work of KfW Development Bank is called "financial cooperation" which is complemented by "technical cooperation" by GIZ and other public agencies. The main sectors of financial cooperation are water supply and sanitation, renewable energy and energy efficiency, as well as the development of the financial sector. KfW Development Bank also works, among other sectors, in health, education, agriculture, forestry, solid waste management. It provided €7.4 billion in loans and grants in 2014.

Export and project finance

The largest subsidiary of KfW banking group is KfW IPEX-Bank. KfW IPEX-Bank is active in project finance and corporate finance related to German or European exports. It also promotes foreign investments in Germany. Unlike KfW, it competes directly with commercial banks. Therefore, and in response to concerns voiced by the European Commission concerning unfair competition, KfW IPEX-Bank has become legally and financially independent in 2008. KfW IPEX-Bank's main sectors of activity are ports, airports, toll roads, bridges and tunnels, railways, ships, planes, telecommunications, energy, and manufacturing. In 2014 the balance sheet total of KfW IPEX-Bank amounted to €26.3 billion.

Another subsidiary of KfW banking group, the German Investment Corporation (DEG), takes minority equity stakes and provides loans to private companies investing in developing countries. It pursues a business model broadly similar to that of the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group. Its main sectors of activity are banking, agro-business, renewable energy, telecommunications and manufacturing. It lent 1.2 billion in 2008.

State shareholding

On behalf of the German state, KfW holds shares in a variety of corporations, including Deutsche Post, Deutsche Telekom, Commerzbank, and CureVac.

Advisory services

In 2013, KfW agreed to help establish a Portuguese financial institution to foster economic growth and boost job creation in the country.

From Wikipedia’s article on KfW, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5

Subsidiaries and ownership

Owners

  • Germany 47.2%
  • North Rhine-Westphalia 4.2%
  • Bavaria 2.8%
  • Baden-Württemberg 2.4%
  • Lower Saxony 1.9%
  • Hesse 1.6%
  • Saxony 1.1%
  • Rhineland-Palatinate 1%
  • Hamburg 0.8%
  • Berlin 0.8%
  • Schleswig-Holstein 0.6%
  • Saxony-Anhalt 0.6%
  • Brandenburg 0.6%
  • Thuringia 0.5%
  • Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 0.4%
  • Bremen 0.3%
  • Saarland 0.3%

Subsidiaries

Also owns

Subsidiaries (GLEIF)

From Wikidata.1 Ownership links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); each one cites its LEI record.

Acquisitions

  1. 2020Acquired CureVac1
  2. Aug 2018Acquired 50Hertz Transmission1

Revenue over time

As stated on Wikidata, in the currency reported.

Net income

  • 20170 EUR1

Timeline

  1. Jan 1, 2018New chief executive Günther Bräunig becomes CEO1
  2. Nov 18, 1948Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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