DGAP-News: Wüstenrot & Württembergische AG

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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