The new Bundesbank branch in Dortmund is further on the road to becoming fully operational. The building, which is located on a site spanning around 79,000 square metres, is the Bundesbank’s largest and most modern branch. “With such a modern property, the Bundesbank is demonstrating its clear commitment to cash in the future, too,” explained Johannes Beermann, the Bundesbank Executive Board member whose remit includes the areas of cash management and construction management.

In future, the Bundesbank will employ around 200 members of staff at the Dortmund branch. At this branch, too, operations involve euro banknotes and coins being counted, verified for authenticity and assessed to decide whether their condition is suitable for being brought back into circulation using state-of-the-art processing systems, with soiled or damaged banknotes being destroyed directly on site.

The Bundesbank has invested around €300 million in the project. During construction of the new branch in Dortmund, the latest technologies were incorporated in the areas of logistics and climate protection. These include, for example, driverless forklift trucks, which are used to transport cash containers inside the building. “We place great importance on ensuring that employees’ workstations are modern and ergonomic,” emphasised Johannes Beermann. “We are also embracing environmental sustainability, such as with photovoltaic surfaces and a geothermal heating and cooling system.”

Coin operations were relocated from the Rhine-Ruhr branches to the new site back at the start of March. Gradually, the new branch has also been taking over lodgements and withdrawals of banknotes from the branches in Bochum, Düsseldorf, Essen, Hagen and the existing Dortmund branch on Hiltropwall. In the next few weeks, its counters will open to the general public, with services including issuing commemorative and collectors’ coins as well as exchanging coins and old Deutsche Mark currency. The five existing Rhine-Ruhr branches are set to close on 30 September 2021.

Around 12 million people will be supplied with cash from Dortmund in the future. The Bundesbank will then be operating a network comprising a total of 31 branches across Germany to ensure the nationwide supply of cash to the German economy.