DGAP-News: Wüstenrot solidly on track for growth


DGAP-News: Wüstenrot & Württembergische AG / Key word(s): Miscellaneous
Wüstenrot solidly on track for growth

08.02.2016 / 12:25
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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New 1 per cent loan interest rate - construction loans up by double digits

Wüstenrot kept on growing in 2015. In a market environment that some
building societies are finding challenging, according to preliminary
figures, gross new business from home loan savings contracts rose to
approximately 14.1 billion euros (after 13.7 billion euros in 2014), and
net new business to nearly 11.7 billion euros (after 11.5 billion euros
last year). Wüstenrot is thus consolidating its position as the
second-largest private building society. Group-wide the construction loan
business grew 15 per cent to roughly 5.5 billion euros (previous year: 4.7
billion euros), with a continuing focus on stable value. The building
society and bank of Wüstenrot & Württembergische Group (W&W), the savings
specialist, are set for further growth in 2016. The new 1 per cent home
loan
and savings rate will help make this happen for Wüstenrot - the lowest
interest rate offered in company history. This rate move comes in response
to customer requests and will make the home savings collective even more
solid.

Wüstenrot sees the striking rise in building loans as signalling a
sustained boom in construction lending. The Federal Republic of Germany
will likely be seeing a strong, multi-year growth phase for private
construction financing in view of the inadequate housing supply in
economically powerful metropolitan areas and the ongoing refugee/migrant
situation. Bernd Hertweck, CEO of Wüstenrot Bausparkasse AG: "The latent
housing shortage cannot be rectified without private investors. The
flexible and dependable interest-bearing products building societies offer
can play a key role in this process." Wüstenrot's CEO expects the home loan
and savings business to grow even more this year. "The home loan and
savings business has evolved to integrate savings for renovations as well.
Home ownership has become more attractive, energy renovation has caught on
and people are increasingly needing to redo existing buildings for an
ageing population."

Another positive factor for Wüstenrot is that the company has earned a
sterling reputation among customers in recent years, including through
product evaluations. In a study by the organisation Service Value
commissioned by the newspaper Die Welt, for example, Wüstenrot was named
one of the 'Service Champions 2015'. In the study, roughly 1.5 million
customers were asked their opinions about nearly 2,000 companies in 232
industries. The magazine WirtschaftsWoche declared Wüstenrot to be a
company enjoying a "very high level of customer confidence". This survey
involved customer evaluations of 900 companies.

Wüstenrot believes the growth achieved in new business are in large part
down to serving customers' needs and acting in their interests. The tied
agents stay in close contact with customers, advising them based on their
future needs rather than today's market conditions. Wüstenrot believes the
nonchalant attitude currently taken by many savers and investors
speculating on low interest rates lasting forever is a mistake. Hertweck:
"Home loan and savings products are particularly attractive for people
looking to buy or renovate property when interest rates are low, and these
low rates are locked in. Explaining this to the public in detail is what
the company's tied agents do on a daily basis. The new rate will make the
soundness of this view even more apparent."

Wüstenrot Bank moving forward with digitalization strategy
Wüstenrot Bank is working full speed in its modernisation efforts, after
introducing numerous innovative services and products available online in
2015. New features include video identification for account opening, video
investment advice, online account changing, the business messenging service
"smoope" and the online review of one's financial situation. The latter is
a web-based financial analysis anyone can use to easily obtain a
comprehensive overview of their personal financial situation via
smartphone, tablet or PC, in a few steps. Wüstenrot Bank CEO Rüdiger
Maroldt: "The strategic goal of Wüstenrot Bank is to evolve into an
attractive digital bank for private clients. We made major progress toward
this goal in 2015."


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08.02.2016 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a
service of EQS Group AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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   Language:    English                                                     
   Company:     Wüstenrot & Württembergische AG                             
                Gutenbergstrasse 30                                         
                70176 Stuttgart                                             
                Germany                                                     
   Internet:    www.ww-ag.com                                               
   ISIN:        DE0008051004                                                
   WKN:         805100                                                      
   Listed:      Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard), Stuttgart;  
                Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf           
 
 
   End of News    DGAP News Service  
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