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Europe before Euro Germany |
(1995)
Capital : Berlin (3.500.000)
15.900.000 people on the Web (19,37%) (Mar-00) (GfK)
Referrer : (arritter@madhatter.cber.nih.gov, friedric@emg.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de, lott@informatik.uni-kl.de, barryb@tuke.sk)
1 DM = 100 Pfennig
1 Euro = 1,95583 Marks (fixed 31.12.1998)
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Other historical banknotes
Deutsche Bundesbank
German Federal Ministry of Finance
German Federal Ministry of Justice
Frankfurt Stock Exchange
Baden-Württembergische Bank
Bankgesellschaft Berlin
Bayerische Hypobank
Commerzbank
DG Bank of Germany
Dresdner Bank
GZB Bank
Hamburger Bank von 1861
Hamburgische Landesbank Girozentrale
IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG
Kreissparkasse Gelnhausen
Kreissparkasse Hannover
Kreissparkasse Ludwigsburg
LG-Bank
Naspa Bank
Postbank
Quelle Bank
Sparkasse Aachen
Sparkasse Essen
Sparkassen im Internet
Volksbank Fürstenfeldbruck eG
Westdeutsche Landesbank
WGZ Bank
German Association of Co-operative Banks
Handelskammer Düsseldorf
Handwerkskammer Region Stuttgart
Euro Info Centre
WEKA Fachverlag für Geschäftsführung und Management
Statistics
Statistics about Nothern Renania
TTE Tourismus Team Europe
| Operator | System | Start | Subscribers 01/03/2000 |
% of growth last year |
| T-mobil | Gsm | 7/92 | 9.850.000 | 70 |
| Mannesmann | Gsm | 6/92 | 10.200.000 | 58 |
| E-plus | Dcs-1800 | 5/94 | 4.100.000 | 86 |
| Viag interkom | Dcs-1800 | 10/98 | 1.200.000* | 2567 |
| *= estimate ; source= Mobile communications | 25.350.000 | |||
| Number of operators | from 4 to 6 (only national). Later there will be a second auction |
| Process of allocation | auction (two different sessions) |
| Pubblication of the assignment procedure | 31/07/2000 |
| Assignement of the licenses | 3. trim. 2000 |
| Service startup | 2002 |
``MasterCard
and apparently Cirrus
are everywhere. Visa (ATM
Locator) is only slightly less convenient, meaning you may have to
walk a few more steps to a different ATM. Plus is a bit less convenient,
yet should be useful in practically every town with ATMs.''
(02. Aug 1995, barryb@tuke.sk )
AmEx, Visa, MasterCard, Eurocard accepted at banks showing the appropriate sign. Diners. Cirrus at CitiBank (among others)
``I have yet to see an ATM in Germany which did not accept Mastercard/EuroCard. Of these ATMs, perhaps 3/4 also accept Visa. If you are in a town of medium size, you should have no difficulty finding a bank whose ATMs accept Visa, and branches of the banks in even the smallest towns accept Visa (though they are not always so marked), so if you have a Visa card, it should be adequate. The Plus network has fairly recently been added to an increasing number of ATMs, and more than half of the Visa ATMs also accept Plus. Again, it is quite possible for you to find a Plus ATM in a very small town. In the past month, it appears that Cirrus has been added to every ATM I have tried, so it probably works in all or most ATMs, though of these ATMs, only a few have had the Cirrus logo added to them. As usual, try your card in any ATM, regardless of how it is labelled, when you need money. Most ATMs in larger towns, where tourists are more likely to find themselves, will be properly labelled, though perhaps the Cirrus logo has not yet made it to every machine which accepts it.
Citibanks, which are in the larger cities, accept AmEx and Diners Club. AmEx is also accepted by certain other banks' ATMs as well in larger towns.
The tourist who gets off the beaten track will find that every town with at least a couple thousand residents has an ATM, and where I have seen one ATM, I have almost always seen that a second bank has an ATM, during my travel in southwest Germany. These two banks have been the Volksbank, in which I have been able to use Visa and Cirrus, and the Sparkasse, which accepts Visa and Plus and in which my Cirrus card just recently started to work. Of course, MasterCard/EuroCard and EuroCheque cards work in both.
There could be one small drawback, in that while many ATMs are outside and accessible, there are a good number which are located inside the bank and require you to insert your card into a slot to unlock the door for entry after banking hours. It so happens that some of these door-openers have not been reprogrammed to unlock for all the cards which will work in the ATM within, but this should be only a slight inconvenience for a small number of people, because if you can't access any other ATM nearby in the same town, you should be able to ask a local resident or passerby to open the door for you with her/his EC card.''
(02. Aug 1995, barryb@tuke.sk )
(02. Aug 1995, barryb@tuke.sk )
AmEx, Visa, MasterCard, Eurocard accepted at banks showing the appropriate sign. Diners. Cirrus at CitiBank (among others)
``I have yet to see an ATM in Germany which did not accept Mastercard/EuroCard. Of these ATMs, perhaps 3/4 also accept Visa. If you are in a town of medium size, you should have no difficulty finding a bank whose ATMs accept Visa, and branches of the banks in even the smallest towns accept Visa (though they are not always so marked), so if you have a Visa card, it should be adequate. The Plus network has fairly recently been added to an increasing number of ATMs, and more than half of the Visa ATMs also accept Plus. Again, it is quite possible for you to find a Plus ATM in a very small town. In the past month, it appears that Cirrus has been added to every ATM I have tried, so it probably works in all or most ATMs, though of these ATMs, only a few have had the Cirrus logo added to them. As usual, try your card in any ATM, regardless of how it is labelled, when you need money. Most ATMs in larger towns, where tourists are more likely to find themselves, will be properly labelled, though perhaps the Cirrus logo has not yet made it to every machine which accepts it.
Citibanks, which are in the larger cities, accept AmEx and Diners Club. AmEx is also accepted by certain other banks' ATMs as well in larger towns.
The tourist who gets off the beaten track will find that every town with at least a couple thousand residents has an ATM, and where I have seen one ATM, I have almost always seen that a second bank has an ATM, during my travel in southwest Germany. These two banks have been the Volksbank, in which I have been able to use Visa and Cirrus, and the Sparkasse, which accepts Visa and Plus and in which my Cirrus card just recently started to work. Of course, MasterCard/EuroCard and EuroCheque cards work in both.
There could be one small drawback, in that while many ATMs are outside and accessible, there are a good number which are located inside the bank and require you to insert your card into a slot to unlock the door for entry after banking hours. It so happens that some of these door-openers have not been reprogrammed to unlock for all the cards which will work in the ATM within, but this should be only a slight inconvenience for a small number of people, because if you can't access any other ATM nearby in the same town, you should be able to ask a local resident or passerby to open the door for you with her/his EC card.''
(02. Aug 1995, barryb@tuke.sk )
Cards :
``The POS
network in Germany is identified by the Electronic Cash logo and can be
found in some filling stations, and in a few stores. I have seen no indication
that any of these are connected to either the Maestro or Electron POS
networks.''
(02. Aug 1995, barryb@tuke.sk )
(02. Aug 1995, barryb@tuke.sk )
Cards :
As german
banks heavily promote their credit cards (Visa, Eurocard), the number
of accepting shops,... _should_ grow. Supermarkets and most restaurants
do not accept credit cards yet. Major railway stations already accept
AmEx, Diners, Visa, MasterCard, Eurocard. In airports or big railway stations
there are telephones accepting AmEx, Diners, Visa, MasterCard, Eurocard
Mastercard and Eurocard are the most common. People just don't view credit
cards in a favorable light in Germany. This view is widespread even among
people in the 25-30 age group, not just among (presumably ultra conservative)
older people. I have had many conversations with people in my group who
do not have even a single credit card and don't see the need to get one.
The
Germans believe deeply in cash. Cash is, quite simply, The Way Things
Are Purchased Here. Bring cash, you'll need it. Furthermore, my experience
in Germany has been that if the business (restaurant, clothes, whatever)
accepts credit cards, I can't afford what they're selling. In other words,
the expensive places all accept CCs, but the little pizzerias never do.
