KfW start-of-year press conference: KfW realigns promotional business

• Restructuring in three dimensions: domestic promotional business, international business and the bank's internal processes
• Looking back on strong 2025 promotional year: Core business in domestic promotion rose by a good third to EUR 61 billion – growth in SME, private clients and municipal financing segments
• Total new business of EUR 98 billion - mandated transactions decline

Frankfurt am Main. In 2026, KfW intends to increase its contribution to strengthening Germany as an economic centre and innovation hub and support the country on its path to growth. To achieve this, it will restructure its work in three central dimensions: domestic promotion, international business and internal processes. This was what Chief Executive Officer Stefan Wintels said today at the annual press conference in Frankfurt.

Wintels:

"KfW’s mandate is also one of renewal in the face of shifting geopolitical conditions: we will do everything in order to actively enable a real comeback for' Made in Germany'."

Key areas of action are investments in an economically and environmentally sustainable energy and heat supply in Germany at competitive prices, in the German innovation system and the competitiveness of SMEs and industry, as well as in reliable framework conditions for export, innovation and growth worldwide.

Wintels:

"Germany offers many opportunities and KfW stands alongside all those who invest here. For investors who do not act now, it should feel like missing out on an opportunity."

In order to support its customers even more quickly and effectively, and with less red tape, KfW is restructuring its domestic and foreign promotion, as well as its internal operations (“Inside KfW”). The aim is for promotion to be even more focused on the respective customer benefit than before.

In the domestic business, the implementation of the Germany Fund, launched in December 2025, is at the heart of the realignment.

"The Germany Fund for the first time offers a central framework to stimulate necessary private investments in essential fields of the future. This is a clear paradigm shift from the linear promotion and financing offer in individual sectors to a more capital market-oriented financing in important fields of the future,”

said Stefan Wintels. In 2026, further instruments of the Germany Fund will be launched: Firstly, the first pilot securitisation transactions are planned for the current year, which will support lending to SMEs and industry by relieving bank balance sheets from credit risks. Secondly, KfW is issuing new promotional loans for energy supply companies to secure and expand a climate-friendly electricity and heat supply in Germany. And thirdly, start-ups and scale-ups will benefit from additional funds from the “Growth and Innovation Capital” ("Future Fund II")", primarily for investments in deeptech, biotech, the security and defence industry, and to cover existing financing needs in the SME sector.

KfW’s traditional domestic promotion is also being repositioned for housing products provided by on-lending banks: During this year, KfW is pooling all the corresponding promotional products specified in the coalition agreement into two basic programmes: one for new builds and one for existing buildings and modernisation. Starting this year, the new system will make KfW’s products more accessible to customers and ensure reliable, secure and attractive promotion. The existing promotional products can be used until the above has been implemented.

In response to profound global challenges and their economic impacts, KfW is also finding new answers in its international business. For the KfW Development Bank business sector, an even greater focus on German and European interests is the guiding principle, for example through the targeted promotion of geostrategic infrastructure or a greater consideration of the interests of the German economy. KfW will use budget funds even more efficiently and in particular to support very poor and fragile countries. At the same time, the aim is to expand capital market financing through new partners, and innovative products such as guarantees, and to increase the business sector’s s own performance through organisational changes, process streamlining and digitalisation. For the KfW subsidiary DEG, which supports private companies with financing in developing countries and emerging economies, a significant expansion of new commitments from own funds, as well as from funds mobilised with other capital providers, is planned for the coming years. KfW will support DEG’s growth trend and is also planning to increase its equity capital in 2026. As it expands its promotional activities, DEG remains committed to its impact and climate course.

KfW IPEX-Bank, which is responsible as a commercial bank for the Export and project finance business sector within KfW Group, plans to continue on its successful course. Against the backdrop of the current macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges and the dynamics in the competitive environment for commercial project and export financiers, it is constantly reviewing further strategic growth areas.

Stefan Wintels:

"We invest in projects worldwide and effectively support the expansion of infrastructure, climate change mitigation, and basic services. We apply our financial strength and expertise to contribute to a reliable framework for exports, innovation and growth, thus helping to secure jobs in Germany as well. In short, our international commitment not only improves Germany’s economic strength, but also makes an active contribution to prosperity, safety and sustainable prospects – both in Germany and in our partner countries."

KfW will meet its aim of becoming faster, more efficient, and more effective through continuous improvement of its own organisation and internal processes with further innovations in 2026. In particular, it will focus on expanding the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

“In order to fully exploit the potential of artificial intelligence beyond the sum of individual use cases for KfW, we are making AI a strategic topic in our Group strategy,”

said Stefan Wintels, CEO of KfW.

“An interdisciplinary team will set out the framework for the expansion and use of AI throughout the entire bank, identify concrete use cases based on measurable parameters and empower our employees for the profitable use of AI in their everyday work. The integration of AI technologies will also noticeably improve and simplify interactions with KfW for customers in the medium term.”

KfW Group: strong new business in 2025

KfW looks back on a strong 2025: Compared to the previous year, its core business in domestic promotion with loans and grants increased significantly by a good third to EUR 61.0 billion (2024: EUR 45.8 billion). All segments performed very well: promotion for small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups (EUR 23.5 billion / 2024: EUR 13.4 billion), for Private Clients (EUR 25.5 billion / 2024: EUR 22.4 billion), and Public Clients and Customised Finance (EUR 11.2 billion / 2024: EUR 8.4 billion).

Including transactions directly commissioned by the Federal Government (mandated transactions), the total volume of KfW’s domestic promotion in the past year came to EUR 62.0 billion, which was below the previous year’s figure (2024: EUR 79.0 billion). In the previous year, mandated transactions totalling EUR 33.2 billion, for example for securing the energy supply or for investments in energy infrastructure, had significantly increased the volume of new domestic business.

This non-recurring effect is also reflected in the figure for KfW Group’s total new business, which last year reached a volume of EUR 98.0 billion (2024: EUR 112.8 billion). The group’s core business excluding mandated transactions increased significantly to EUR 96.9 billion (2024: EUR 79.6 billion).

KfW Capital, as a KfW subsidiary for investments in German and European venture capital and venture debt funds, committed around EUR 750 million last year (2024: EUR 1.6 billion). The lower figure compared with the prior-year period is mainly due to one-off commitments for two facilities amounting to EUR 930 million, which were made in 2024 as a fiduciary for the Federal Government as part of the Future Fund.

In 2025, the international units KfW IPEX-Bank, DEG and KfW Development Bank recorded new business at a high level.

Promotion of developing countries and emerging economies as a whole reached a commitment volume of EUR 12.3 billion (2024: EUR 10.3 billion). KfW Development Bank accounted for EUR 10.0 billion (2024: EUR 7.8 billion). The KfW subsidiary DEG provided EUR 2.4 billion (2024: EUR 2.5 billion) for investments by private enterprises in developing countries and emerging economies under globally challenging conditions. At EUR 822 million, DEG’s commitments in the German business reached an all-time high. KfW IPEX-Bank’s export and project finance totalled approximately EUR 24 billion, as in the previous two years.

In the 2025 financial year, KfW funded its business activities with the equivalent of EUR 71.0 billion on the international capital markets (2024: EUR 78.1 billion).

KfW’s 2025 figures in detail

Domestic promotion

At EUR 61.0 billion, KfW’s core business of domestic promotion grew significantly compared with the previous year (2024: EUR 45.8 billion). At a total of EUR 62.0 billion, new domestic promotional business was below the prior-year level (2024: EUR 79.0 billion); however, the previous year's high figure was significantly influenced by non-recurring effects from transactions mandated by the Federal Government (2024: EUR 33.2 billion). At EUR 1.1 billion, mandated transactions in 2025 were only of secondary importance.

Business sector SME Bank & Private Clients

In the SME Bank & Private Clients business sector, the promotional business volume stood at EUR 49.1 billion as of 31 December 2025, significantly exceeding the prior-year level (2024: EUR 35.8 billion).

The SME Bank segment recorded particularly encouraging growth. At EUR 23.5 billion, the new commitment volume almost doubled compared with the previous year (2024: EUR 13.4 billion), with all of priority areas performing positively:

EUR 7.0 billion was committed to start-ups and corporate investment (2024: EUR 6.5 billion). The majority of this was accounted for by the ERP promotional loan for SMEs (2024: EUR 6.2 billion), which provides small and medium-sized enterprises with favourable terms for general corporate finance. This is a satisfactory result given the generally rather modest demand for loans from SMEs.

The demand for innovation financing has also increased significantly compared with the previous year. At EUR 2.7 billion, the new commitment volume was almost twice as high as in 2024 (2024: EUR 1.5 billion). The product offering for innovation and digitalisation promotion, which was restructured in the middle of last year and now offers tiered funding intensities for smaller companies in addition to low-threshold promotion, has made a positive contribution in this area. The product promotes the use and development of technologies of the future, in particular.

The promotion provided for climate action and the environment in the SME Bank segment developed very positively. This supports investments in industrial environmental protection and in the expansion of renewable energies, thus strengthening the competitiveness of German industry. The promotional business volume rose to EUR 13.8 billion, significantly exceeding the prior-year result (2024: EUR 5.4 billion). This was mainly due to the “Renewable Energies – Standard” programme, to which EUR 9.2 billion was committed (2024: EUR 7 million). The EU reference interest rate, which fell significantly compared with the previous year, enabled a return to more attractive terms and conditions.

Private Clients segment

With a promotional business volume of EUR 25.5 billion, the Private Clients segment surpassed the already strong prior- year result (2024: EUR 22.4 billion).

At EUR 17.7 billion, the main share is attributable to the priority area of energy efficiency and renewable energies (2024: EUR 14.4 billion). In the fourth quarter in particular, there was solid demand in the promotional programmes for “Climate-friendly Construction” and “Federal Funding for Efficient Buildings” (“BEG”). Among the BEG products is the promotion of heating systems, under which KfW committed over EUR 5.2 billion for private applicants in 2025, from around 375,000 applications. A positive contribution was also made by the temporary promotion of the “Efficiency House 55” standard for new buildings, which resumed on 16 December 2025 and addresses the reduction of the building backlog. By the end of the year, the construction of over 14,000 housing units was funded with around EUR 1.4 billion.

The residential and housing segment was slightly below last year’s level at EUR 6.2 billion (2024: EUR 6.4 billion). The main driver in 2025 was KfW’s “Home ownership” programme at EUR 5.1 billion (2024: EUR 5.3 billion).

Commitments in the promotional products for education amounted to EUR 1.6 billion, remaining at the prior-year level (2024: EUR 1.6 billion).

Business sector Customised Finance and Public Clients

The Customised Finance and Public Clients business sector achieved a commitment volume of EUR 12.2 billion (2024: EUR 41.6 billion). At EUR 1.1 billion, non-recurring effects from mandated transactions by the Federal Government only had minor significance in 2025 (2024: EUR 33.2 billion). In the core business, on the other hand, the commitment volume of the business sector rose to a very strong EUR 11.2 billion (2024: EUR 8.4 billion)

Customised finance Corporates

Customised finance for corporates recorded commitments totalling EUR 433 million, compared with EUR 33.1 billion in 2024. The extremely high figure from the previous year was due to one-off mandated transactions by the Federal Government, particularly for financing the hydrogen amortisation account. In 2025, close to EUR 200 million was realised in venture tech growth financing. In addition, there were syndicate loans of around EUR 200 million for sustainable transformation projects.

Municipal and social infrastructure

With a value of EUR 7.8 billion, the commitments for municipal and social infrastructure increased significantly compared with the previous year (2024: EUR 4.6 billion). The increase was largely due to strong demand for investment loans for municipalities and municipal enterprises, as well as high commitments in the programmes to promote sustainable mobility. The latter alone accounted for EUR 1.4 billion. Disbursements from the emergency aid/price brake for gas and heat, also included in the volume of business and still ongoing since 2022, amounted to EUR 1.1 billion (2024: EUR 0.7 billion).

Individual financing of banks and promotional institutions of the federal states

Individual financing for banks and promotional institutions of the federal states slightly exceeded the previous year’s figure (2024: EUR 3.9 billion) with a business volume of nearly EUR 4.0 billion. With commitments of around EUR 2.5 billion, there was again high demand from state promotional institutions for general funding. In addition, there was a significant increase in demand for global loans for leasing investments, which amounted to total commitments of EUR 1.0 billion.

Business sector KfW Capital

Commitments in the KfW Capital business sector amounted to around EUR 750 million (2024: EUR 1.6 billion). The decline compared with the previous year mainly resulted from one-off commitments for two facilities made in 2024 as part of the Future Fund in trust for the federal government: the HTGF Opportunity Fund (EUR 500 million) and the DeepTech & Climate Fund (DTCF, EUR 430 million).

In 2025, EUR 383 million was committed to 20 venture capital funds for the financing of start-ups and young innovative companies in Germany through the programmes implemented by KfW Capital (2024: EUR 381 million to 21 funds). In addition, an initial commitment was made last December regarding the “Scale-up Direct” programme announced as part of the Germany Fund.

Start-ups and scale-ups are also targeted through KfW Capital as part of the Federal Government's Germany Fund; around EUR 2 billion is available for VC fund investments, particularly in the key areas of deeptech, artificial intelligence, biotech, climate tech, defence and other sectors. An additional EUR 1 billion is now available for direct co-investments ("Scale-up Direct") and another EUR 300 million for funds that finance first-of-a-kind investments.

As a venture fund capital investor that entered the market in 2018, KfW Capital has already invested around EUR 2.9 billion in more than 150 venture capital funds and has thus indirectly co-financed more than 2,900 start-ups via these venture capital funds. On average, the VC funds invested around 4.8 times the capital contributed by KfW Capital in start-ups and innovative companies in Germany.

KfW Capital is also involved in the Growth Fund Germany (umbrella fund, fund volume: around EUR 1 billion) as an investment adviser. By the end of the year, the umbrella fund had already invested around EUR 850 million in 42 VC target funds, meaning more than four fifths of its capital is invested.

Business sector Export and project finance – KfW IPEX-Bank

KfW IPEX-Bank, which is responsible for the Export and project finance business sector and provides financing to support German and European companies on global markets, achieved new commitments totalling EUR 24.2 billion – surpassing the previous year’s level (2024: EUR 23.9 billion). With its financings, KfW IPEX-Bank has once again made a significant contribution to supporting the European and German economies, often in consortiums with partner banks and institutional investors.

In a market environment characterised by persistent upheavals, this was primarily due to excellent performance across all business units, in particular in the two sectors of “Energy” and “Mobility”, which recorded commitments of EUR 6.7 billion each. The main new business drivers were major projects for the energy and mobility transition, as well as for strengthening energy infrastructure and securing the supply of raw materials in Germany.

KfW IPEX-Bank underlined its commitment to strengthening the economy and infrastructure in Germany and Europe with financing for projects such as the construction of the hydrogen core network in Germany, Europe’s largest district heating network in Berlin, the Port of Duisburg, as well as charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in Germany and Europe and new high-speed trains for long-distance rail transport. It contributed to the global energy transition with financing for a number of onshore and offshore wind farms as well as solar projects and battery storage systems totalling EUR 3.3 billion.

Promotion of developing countries and emerging economies

Commitments in the promotion of developing countries and emerging economies totalled EUR 12.3 billion (2024: EUR 10.3 billion).

The KfW Development Bank business sector increased its commitments to close to EUR 10.0 billion (2024: EUR 7.8 billion). Less than one third of the commitments in 2025, namely EUR 2.8 billion, came from the federal budget (mainly from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development). The majority – EUR 6.5 billion – were KfW funds. KfW raises these funds via the capital markets and grants them as repayable loans to developing countries and emerging countries.

Despite ongoing global crises, Financial Cooperation remains committed to promoting sustainable transformation. KfW Development Bank supported projects in the area of climate and environmental protection with EUR 6.6 billion in 2025, which corresponds to a share of 68% of total new commitments. In the mobility segment, there were high individual commitments for projects in India, Indonesia, Central America, Brazil and Morocco – mainly KfW funds. There is great potential in infrastructure projects for German and European companies, which are in demand as suppliers and service providers.

In 2025, KfW Development Bank launched a comprehensive restructuring programme to be able to respond to the geopolitical challenges even in times of decreasing budget funds. On this basis, KfW will support the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development in implementing its reform plan presented in January.

Providing and mobilising loans and investments for business ventures remained the focus of the activities of KfW subsidiary DEG in 2025. It provided EUR 2.4 billion of its own funds for investments of private companies in developing countries and emerging economies (2024: EUR 2.5 billion). In addition, funds were mobilised from private, institutional and public investors. EUR 1.2 billion of new commitments were for projects that promote climate and environmental action.

Commitments in DEG’s German business reached a new high of around EUR 822 million in 2025, an increase of 32% compared to 2024. DEG thus remains an important partner for German SMEs investing in developing and emerging markets. This also includes financing for local companies that purchase German equipment, for example. The commitments also include EUR 86 million in public funds from programmes such as ImpactConnect.

The regional distribution of financing commitments (own funds) underlines the demand and reach of DEG: EUR 808 million went to companies in Latin America, followed by Africa at EUR 592 million, Asia at EUR 451 million, Europe/Caucasus at EUR 409 million and EUR 89 million for supra-regional projects.

Business sector Financial markets

In the 2025 financial year, KfW funded its promotional business with the equivalent of EUR 71.0 billion (2024: EUR 78.1 billion) in the international capital markets in ten different currencies. Its focus was on the euro, which accounted for around 58% of total capital market funding (2024: 62%). The share of US dollar funding was around 24% (2024: 25%). KfW issued green bonds with net proceeds of around EUR 14.0 billion in eight currencies – the second highest annual volume since 2014. The cumulative issue volume of “Green Bonds – Made by KfW” issued since 2014 reached around EUR 97 billion at the end of 2025.

To fund its promotional business in the 2026 financial year, KfW is planning to raise a total of EUR 75 to 80 billion in the international capital markets. Of this amount, up to around EUR 15 billion is to be raised via “Green Bonds – Made by KfW”. At the end of January 2026, KfW had already raised over EUR 18.5 billion in the international capital markets.

As an issuer and investor, KfW is driving forward the development of the digital financial market. After the first digital bond issuances in 2022–2024, three investments in DLT-based securities (Distributed Ledger Technology) were made for the first time in 2025, as well as two issuances with digital central bank money in Swiss francs. Through its involvement in the European Regulated Layer One (RL1) initiative, KfW is supporting the development of an open and interoperable blockchain infrastructure to strengthen Europe’s digital sovereignty. For 2026, KfW plans to issue its third DLT bond with a focus on payment processing (ECB’s Pontes solution), interoperability, and strengthening the robustness of DLT. It will also examine the potential of digitalisation and automation throughout the entire life cycle of securities, for example through the use of smart contracts. The findings will be widely shared with the market in order to promote a scalable DLT ecosystem, similar to the whitepaper on the DLT-based capital market published in 2025 together with KPMG and other project partners.

You can find all handouts for KfW’s annual press conference, including photos and graphics for editorial use, at: Digital press kit for the Start-of-year press conference | KfW

Further information about KfW’s promotional figures can be found at:

Reporting Portal | KfW