GLS Bank
Germany's first ethically oriented bank, a Bochum-based cooperative founded in 1974 that finances only social and ecological projects — renewable energy, sustainable housing, health, culture and education — and discloses where its money flows. Through the EU's NGI TALER programme, GLS is one of two European retail banks working to make GNU Taler available as a payment system, bringing privacy-preserving digital cash to everyday banking.
Germany's pioneer values-based bank and one of two European retail banks preparing a GNU Taler deployment under the EU's NGI TALER programme. As money it is fiat all the way down — the map value is the values-based banking model and the Taler bridge to privacy-preserving digital cash. Lands one notch above MagNet Bank, its Hungarian consortium peer, on traction and resilience.
M69 Score
Scored against the Money2069 Manifesto — see methodology. Higher = more aligned.
Detailed Rating Breakdown
Issuance Model3x2.0
Deposit-money creation via interest-bearing euro lending — permissioned and debt-based; partially redeemed by lending exclusively against real social and ecological projects.
Spending Power Stability2x1.0
No stability mechanism of its own; purchasing power rides the euro and ECB policy entirely.
Fiat Independence & Interoperability2x1.0
Fully fiat: euro unit of account, euro balance sheet, regulated banking rails.
Traction2x3.0
Five decades of continuous operation, tens of thousands of cooperative members and about €10.7B assets under management (2024); strong organic growth and national recognition, but no currency of its own to adopt.
Sovereignty1.0
Licensed, custodial, single-jurisdiction German bank — supervisable and revocable by the state by design.
Governance3.0
Cooperative one-member-one-vote structure with transparent lending disclosure and a clear values charter, inside conventional bank governance.
Resilience3.0
Profitable through five decades including the 2008 crisis, with self-sustaining funding; single-jurisdiction and regulatory dependence cap the ceiling.
Inclusivity2.0
KYC banking focused on Germany; mission-driven lending but no design for the unbanked or excluded.