ABSTRACT
Above all, developments in communications technology are changing our lives at a nearly incomprehensible speed. This applies to the working methods of banks, to the relationship between customer and bank, and, finally, from here on in, to the nearly unlimited competitive environment. In this banking market, which for some time now we have not been able to characterize as national, credit institutions must continually re-position themselves. Characteristic of this is that the classic universal bank of the continental European variety no longer represents a successful business model for internationally active institutions. On the one hand, globalization and Europeanization imply that the country of origin of a bank no longer has its previous meaning; on the other hand, market transparency is increasing. Customers can now select the best products and services available on the market, and they are doing this increasingly at specialists. The 'house bank' as the classic universal bank, offering all financial services under one roof, is being pushed, not just from the capital markets, to concentrate more and more on its own core areas of expertise. What was seen as an advantage for decades - for nearly an entire century - that is, the universal bank's risk diversification from its wide range of products, has turned into its disadvantage in the international environment. At the moment, only a fundamental restructuring towards greater focus, towards being a multi-specialist for globally active, exchange-listed institutions, appears to promise success.
