Private Banking Board Member in an Interview: “Private banking is a growth area for us”

private banking magazine: You started as the new board member of the Sparkasse in the Cham district at the beginning of April. How would you summarize your first few weeks?

Jonathan Stich: Eventful and exciting, especially because I've already had a tremendous amount of client contact with entrepreneurs. The private banking division of Sparkasse im Landkreis Cham is located in the corporate customer segment, and our entrepreneur clients work in high-tech fields. That's very interesting for me.

What are your goals for private banking?

Stich: Growth: both in terms of the number of customers and the ticket size or volume per customer. The Cham region's economy has grown strongly in recent years. This becomes clear when you compare the growth of our district's gross domestic product with that of other districts over the past ten years. Of course, there are also several catch-up effects. And this growth is benefiting entrepreneurs and top earners.

Our potential client base for private banking is therefore constantly growing. This applies to the entrepreneurs for whom we already support their corporate clients. This allows us to accompany them from the growth phase on the corporate side to the wealth phase on the private side. But we are also tapping into new client groups. These include, for example, clients from the heir generation and those who have earned their wealth themselves.

What advantages do you have as a savings bank when acquiring assets compared to specialized private banks or asset managers?

Stich: We often have the advantage of having an existing client relationship and don't even need to acquire them. Many of our clients were with us as children and have developed a close relationship through their entrepreneurial journey. Because our private banking is located in the corporate and small business client sector, we have good cross-border effects. This allows business advisors and private banking advisors to serve clients together and bring each other into play. This gives us the advantage of not having to acquire clients through purchased asset lists because we already have the information.

Is it a historical development that private banking is located in the corporate client sector, or was this a strategic decision?

Stich: That was a strategic decision. When the decision was made ten years ago to establish private banking, it was clear that it would be integrated with the corporate banking division. Even though corporate and private banking are often separated at other banks.

Looking at the Sparkasse as a whole, what role does private banking play compared to other business areas?

Stich: Within the investment business, it is certainly a significant source of income. However, from an overall perspective, we generate the lion's share of our income from the lending business. Private banking, however, is a lucrative addition, especially since we have a significant revenue leverage per client. Private banking is a growth area for us, especially given the significant wealth development in the Cham district.

How do you explain the growth in wealth?

Stich: The Cham district has experienced strong economic growth, driven in part by catch-up effects. We are located in the eastern part of Upper Palatinate, directly on the Czech border and not far from the Thuringian border. Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, the region was therefore economically quite isolated from its neighbors. That's different now. This effect is further amplified by the internet.

In the 1980s, you would have had to leave Cham to find business partners. Now, the world is much more interconnected. The district has been booming since the 2000s. We're an extended workbench, especially for the automotive industry. For a long time, we were well below the Bavarian average and are now slowly reaching the same figures in terms of gross domestic product and are even starting to overtake it. And the people of Upper Palatinate are frugal. Liquidity was rarely withdrawn from companies, but reinvested. The fact that we're growing so strongly now is a geographical peculiarity.

You succeeded Theo Schneidhuber on the Executive Board. In a year, there will also be a successor to CEO Franz Wittmann. What changes will this entail?

Stich: This is certainly relevant for the savings bank as a whole. There will likely be fewer changes in private banking; we're already on the right track strategically. The current board members, as well as the head of the Small Business Customers and Private Banking unit, Thomas Boxleitner, have already set the right course. We will certainly expand the business. The extent to which this happens also depends on our ability to acquire new business.

I will also try to set the tone and contribute personally. We will increase the involvement of private banking, particularly with clients with whom we already have corporate client relationships. This systematic linking of the service provided to corporate and private banking clients helps us enormously. This is clearly a strategic success of my predecessors.

About the interviewee: Jonathan Stich has been a member of the board of the Sparkasse in the Cham district since the beginning of April 2025. He is responsible for the business customer division, which also includes private banking.