Nowhere in Germany does one find such a diversity of financial service providers as here in Europe’s smallest metropolis.
Aside from various leading German financial institutions, “Mainhattan” also has representations of the vast majority of global banks and credit institutes. Home to the Deutsche Bundesbank, the European Central Bank and the German Stock Exchange, Frankfurt is continental Europe’s most important finance capital.
In addition, the European Union's new anti-money laundering authority, the AMLA (Anti Money Laundering Authority), will be based in Frankfurt am Main from 2025 at the latest. In February 2024, the German bid with Frankfurt prevailed against eight competing bids, including Paris and Dublin, two other top financial centres in Europe.
Frankfurt am Main has been chosen already as the seat of the Executive Board of the new International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) in autumn 2021. This decision once again highlights the important role of Frankfurt as an innovative, scientific, professional and sustainable financial centre. In addition to the innovative start-up scene, the topics of "transparency" and "sustainability" will become increasingly important in the global world. And with this institution, the city of Frankfurt am Main will play a central role in curbing "greenwashing" in the future.
In August of 2014, Frankfurt also became one of the first cities outside of Asia to allow free trade of the renminbi, making it a premier trading centre for business conducted in Chinese currency.
The “House of Finance” currently has some 170 employees teaching and researching in their respective field of competence. The institute, one of the largest research centres of its kind in Europe, focuses primarily on monetary and fiscal policies.
With its unique network of financial service providers, the metropolis on the River Main has in more recent times also become a popular base for start-up companies of the FinTech sector. Unsurprisingly, Frankfurt has recorded the highest growth in this sector in all of Germany.And thanks to the large number of banks, there’s also a great focus on the B2B sector.
With the establishment of a sophisticated start-up scene, the offer range of co-working spaces has increased dramatically in Frankfurt in recent years. There’s no shortage of office space or creativity workshops in the city available for shared use. The TechQuarter, for example, promotes innovation and collaboration within the finance industry through co-working activities carried out at diverse event spaces and small meeting rooms, spread over two floors.
