Interessengemeinschaft Frankfurter Kreditinstitute
The Interessengemeinschaft Frankfurter Kreditinstitute (IFK) is a company owned by eleven banks that supports Frankfurt's financial center. Its shareholders include private banks, savings banks and cooperative institutions. The IFK gives those banks a platform for shared work on the local financial economy and supports education and research in the city.
The IFK funds financial research and scholarships that help universities train people for the finance industry. Its holdings in financial information services and a loan guarantee institution connect that work with practical needs in the economy. Support for cultural and social projects is also part of its activity, alongside cooperation among its shareholder banks.
Eleven shareholders from all three pillars
The shareholders are ABN AMRO (Frankfurt branch), B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co., Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, DZ BANK, Frankfurter Sparkasse, Frankfurter Volksbank Rhein/Main, Hauck Aufhäuser Lampe, Helaba, ODDO BHF and UBS Europe. Hauck Aufhäuser Lampe holds its share through FidesKapital. Frankfurter Sparkasse and Helaba are public-law institutions, DZ BANK and Frankfurter Volksbank are cooperative banks, and the others are private banks. The IFK thus covers all three pillars of German banking.
The IFK is a GmbH in Frankfurt am Main, at the same location as the Bankenverband Mitte, and it celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2024.
The IFK managing director is Sarah Schmidtke, who also runs the Bankenverband Mitte. Sarah Schmidtke leaves both roles when she becomes CEO of Frankfurt Main Finance on 1 February 2027.
Holdings: WM Gruppe and Bürgschaftsbank Hessen
The IFK holds a stake in the WM Gruppe, which has supplied data and information services to the financial market since 1947. The products of WM Gruppe include the Börsen-Zeitung and WM Datenservice. The second holding is Bürgschaftsbank Hessen, which has guaranteed loans since 1954 for companies that cannot offer their bank enough collateral.
Awards, scholarships and research
For more than 30 years the IFK has given the IFK Awards to the best graduates of the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, adding diversity scholarships to its support in 2021. The IFK funds finance research projects at Goethe University Frankfurt and the Frankfurt School, both long-standing partners.
Culture, social projects and the ISSB
The IFK is the exclusive sponsor of close up, a project of the Städel Museum that brings art to people online and on site. The IFK gave money to the Corona fund of Goethe University and the University Hospital Frankfurt and supports the children's charity Die Arche. In 2021 it backed Frankfurt's bid for the International Sustainability Standards Board, which now has its office in the city.
Upcoming finance events in Frankfurt
IFK and Finance Loop
Tokenized deposits, digital assets and AI are on the agenda of several IFK shareholders, among them DZ BANK, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank. The IFK managing director, Sarah Schmidtke, becomes CEO of Frankfurt Main Finance in February 2027; Finance Loop has been a member there since 2024.
Finance Loop is a professional network supporting the institutional use of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, digital payments, cloud and blockchain solutions. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.