Zukunftsprodukte und Megatrends: KfW-Vorstand Dr. Stefan Peiß über die Herausforderungen der Zukunft

Yes, I simply had the feeling after school that I needed some practical experience now, and also to maybe better harden the idea of what I might do later. And that's how it turned out. I had also considered starting a direct trainee program, but I first decided on an apprenticeship. I then completed the trainee program after my studies.

Yes, I would say there is a difference because, of course, you bring everything with a bit more input, certainly more specialized in a more concrete position. The advantage of the apprenticeship, I found, was that it was a bit broader. In my case, you really run through an entire bank and perhaps bring a bit more experience of what could all come later.

Well, today I would say that, but I wouldn't have formulated it that way back then. I already understood on a gut level that the banking industry is a transmission belt for the economy. That sounds a bit theoretical, but like the lubricant in an engine or perhaps the battery in an electric motor today. Without this financial connection that banks ensure whenever money is needed, the entrepreneur doesn't have it. It's like having a battery for solar energy and needing the electricity at night; the battery helps. Similarly, the financial industry or banking sector provides money when the entrepreneur needs it. And the saying is good in these times, maybe not entirely, but at least overall. Yes, I am still enthusiastic about it because this positive prejudice has been confirmed. And a second keyword is perhaps diversity. Diversity is really something that distinguishes the banking genre more than one might expect from the outside, if you think of a counter operation from earlier. But in reality, if you look at KfW, it is a very broad spectrum.

Yes, that's a good point. As I said, all banks, and KfW's business model for domestic promotion relies heavily on the so-called house bank principle. So if you want a loan, you don't get it directly from KfW; you go to your house bank and it is mediated through the house bank. KfW decides on the eligibility for funding. And I think that is the key point: KfW can deliver and achieve more impact simply by offering promotional products. Not only, in quotation marks, to keep the economy running, which is very important without a doubt, but also to set certain impulses from an ecological perspective, social perspective, and of course economic perspective, to improve living conditions overall.

Well, one can clearly say that at the latest after the financial crisis, everyone understood again that banking is also a risk business. And I maybe slipped into it a bit by chance during my career, I almost said. But I found it very exciting for two reasons, unchanged. Within this segment, there is incredible dynamism. For example, the topic of sustainability emerged; these are risk topics that were not discussed ten years ago. Back then, we might have talked about wrong option pricing models. Today we talk about environmental protection, we develop climate stress tests, we ask ourselves how business models are affected by the rise in CO2 prices. So it is an incredible diversity. In addition, there are interest rate change risks, compliance topics, legal questions. You can build risk models, which is more of a mathematical-physical background. It is incredibly diverse. And the second is the dynamism: a lot develops in short intervals. Risk management as a heading existed ten or twenty years ago, but the content changes very strongly. It is very exciting.

Well, I mean, as KfW, we develop promotional products that address the megatrends: digitalization, sustainability, of course in our case also clearly the innovation capability of the German economy, the topic of education, climate change I already mentioned. And I would say we have two areas of application, if I may say so. One is these megatrends for which we try to develop promotional products that precisely help the economy and individuals. But we also have, to some extent, crisis intervention. I almost said, if you think of Corona or the financial crisis back then, KfW is also ready with sufficient power of really well-qualified people who cover an extremely broad range. And it is simply a difference whether you develop a future product or whether you are able to quickly mobilize 40 billion through the house banks. Of course, you also have to be able to do that organizationally, and I think we are quite well positioned with a very, very great team that brings many skills and abilities.

That's simple, I would say family. Yes, I think that is even more important than today, you know.

I'm already curious.