GLS Gemeinschaftsbank e.G. products, services and reviews

About GLS Gemeinschaftsbank e.G.

GLS Gemeinschaftsbank e.G. is a German cooperative bank founded in 1974 and headquartered in Bochum, operating with a stated social‑ecological mandate within retail and corporate banking. It offers current accounts, payments, savings, and lending to private customers, businesses, and non‑profits, alongside investment products aligned with exclusionary and positive criteria; lending activity is concentrated in areas such as renewable energy, sustainable housing, education, healthcare, and organic agriculture, and the bank publishes information on its criteria and sector allocations. As a cooperative, customers can acquire membership shares and exercise voting rights; returns on cooperative shares are variable and not guaranteed. The bank provides online and mobile banking and maintains a limited branch presence relative to major universal banks; card issuance and cash access are available through standard German payment networks, with fees dependent on the chosen account and card. Pricing generally includes account maintenance and card fees, and a basic payment account (Basiskonto) is available in line with German regulations. GLS is licensed in Germany and supervised by BaFin and the Deutsche Bundesbank; deposits are covered by the cooperative sector’s institutional protection scheme (BVR), which is recognized under EU rules, with statutory coverage of eligible deposits up to 100,000 EUR per depositor. The institution positions its product range toward customers prioritizing social and environmental criteria; by design, this can entail a narrower service scope than large full‑service banks and a credit portfolio concentrated in selected sectors, which may influence product availability, pricing, and risk profile.