Bundesvereinigung Deutscher Geld- und Wertdienste

What Bundesvereinigung Deutscher Geld- und Wertdienste does

Bundesvereinigung Deutscher Geld- und Wertdienste (BDGW) is a registered German industry and employers' association (eingetragener Verein, e.V.) representing companies in the cash handling and value services sector. Founded in its current form in 1989, with a precursor organization dating to 1971, BDGW represents 26 ordinary member companies operating 78 branches across Germany and 25 extraordinary members including vehicle manufacturers, insurance providers, and technology vendors. The association is headquartered in Bad Homburg with a policy-focused Berlin office, is led by Chairman Michael Mewes and CEO Dr. Peter Schwark (appointed November 2023), and operates with a staff of 1-10. The wider industry BDGW represents employs approximately 10,000 people (two-thirds in cash and value transport, one-third in cash processing) and generated roughly €630M in revenue in 2022.\n\nBDGW's core offerings center on four functions: tariff negotiation and collective bargaining representation for member firms; development and maintenance of the proprietary BDGW Sicherheitsstandard (security standard); industry research through the BASIC security research project; and political advocacy for cash as a payment method. The association publishes the periodical industry magazine "Der Sicherheitsdienst" (DSD), operates an online seminar program in cooperation with BDSW covering labor law and professional topics, and provides member resources such as tariff overviews, position papers, and working materials. BDGW participates in Deutsche Bundesbank's National Cash Forum and supports the EU-level Bargelderhalt.eu initiative, which gathered 350,000 signatures on a petition to the European Parliament advocating equal treatment of cash and the digital euro.\n\nBDGW operates as a non-profit funded by membership dues under a published contribution schedule (Beitragsordnung). Its go-to-market motion is sales-led direct engagement with cash handling and value services companies, offering membership benefits including tariff representation, standards access, and industry advocacy. The association has no proprietary technology products, APIs, software platforms, or AI/ML capabilities, and pricing/membership fees are not publicly disclosed. Its competitive position rests entirely on its regulatory recognition as the official sector employers' association, its formal tariff authority under German labor law, and its direct institutional access to the Bundesbank and EU policy bodies on cash legislation.

Name

Bundesvereinigung Deutscher Geld- und Wertdienste

Legal name

Bundesvereinigung Deutscher Geld- und Wertdienste e. V.

Website

https://bdgw.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1971

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Bundesvereinigung Deutscher Geld- und Wertdienste (BDGW) is the German industry and employers' association for cash and value services companies, representing 26 ordinary and 25 extraordinary member firms through tariff negotiation, security standards, and cash policy advocacy.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Bad Homburg

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Membership dues: BDGW operates as a registered association (e.V.) funded through membership fees from ordinary and extraordinary member companies in the German cash handling and value services industry.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Bundesvereinigung Deutscher Geld- und Wertdienste (BDGW) is a German registered industry association (e.V.) representing companies in the cash handling and value services sector. The association provides collective tariff negotiation (Haustarifvertrag), industry standards (BDGW Sicherheitsstandard), training/seminars, industry publications (DSD magazine), security research (BASIC project), and political advocacy for its member firms operating in cash-in-transit, currency processing, and related security transport activities.

Product overview

Bundesvereinigung Deutscher Geld- und Wertdienste (BDGW) is a trade association (Wirtschafts- und Arbeitgeberverband) for the German cash and value services industry, not a product company. The organization provides industry representation, tariff negotiation services, publishes the DSD - Der Sicherheitsdienst industry magazine, organizes online seminars through BDSW partnership, maintains the BDGW Security Standard and the BASIC security research initiative, and offers tariff information services and working materials for its member companies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• DSD - Der Sicherheitsdienst
• Online-Seminare
• BDGW Sicherheitsstandard
• BASIC Projekt
• Tarif (Haustarifvertrag)
• Arbeitsmaterialien

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• Deutsche Bundesbank (Nationales Bargeldforum)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 February 2024BDGW participates in the National Cash Forum (Nationales Bargeldforum) initiated by Deutsche Bundesbank, alongside retail associations, consumer protection organizations, ATM operators, and credit institutions. The forum develops strategies to maintain cash as an efficient and widely accepted payment method.
• ESTA - European Cash Handling AssociationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBDGW is affiliated with ESTA, the European Cash Handling Association, collaborating on positions regarding cash as a payment method at the EU level and participating in joint initiatives like the ESTA Conference 2026 in Berlin.
• BDSW - Bundesverband der SicherheitswirtschaftcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBDGW shares a common Managing Director (Dr. Peter Schwark) with BDSW (Federal Association of the Security Industry), representing overlapping interests in security services and maintaining joint press communications.
• Arbeitsgemeinschaft Geldautomaten (AGG)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBDGW and the Working Group on ATMs jointly submitted impulses for the National Cash Forum, addressing cash accessibility, acceptance, security, and sustainability in German payment infrastructure.
• Bargelderhalt.eu InitiativemajorGTM or Marketing PartnerBDGW supports the Bargelderhalt.eu initiative advocating for cash equality with digital euro at EU Parliament, with petition gathering 350,000 signatures presented to the Currency Committee.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• Deutscher Industrie- und Handelskammertag (DIHK): Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry; comparable as a large-scale German institutional advocacy body that frames SME and industry positions to government, even though it operates in a much broader remit than cash handling.
• Bundesverband deutscher Banken (BdB): German banking industry association that is a key stakeholder in the National Cash Forum alongside BDGW; tangentially related because banks are both customers of BDGW members and competitors on payment rails.
• Bundesvereinigung der Deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände (BDA): Umbrella German employers' association of which BDGW is a member; comparable as the apex trade/employer federation model that BDGW operates within at the sectoral level.
• ver.di - Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft: Counterparty to BDGW in collective bargaining for the cash and value services industry; relevant peer in the social-partner / labor relations dimension that defines much of BDGW's work.
• Die Deutsche Kreditwirtschaft (DK): Umbrella organization of the German banking associations that participates alongside BDGW in cash policy discussions; complementary rather than competing, given BDGW's focus on cash handling rather than issuance.
• Bargelderhalt.eu Initiative: Citizen-led advocacy campaign supported by BDGW that gathered 350,000 signatures on a cash preservation petition at the EU Parliament; operates as a complementary grassroots lobbying channel rather than a competing industry association.

Regional players

• ATM Industry Association (ATMIA): Global trade association for the ATM industry covering cash access infrastructure; overlaps with BDGW on cash distribution and consumer access topics but operates internationally rather than focusing on Germany.

Direct peers

• BDSW - Bundesverband der Sicherheitswirtschaft: German Federal Association of the Security Industry, sharing CEO Dr. Peter Schwark and operational resources with BDGW; represents the broader private security sector that overlaps materially with cash and value services.
• Arbeitsgemeinschaft Geldautomaten (AGG): German ATM working group that jointly submitted positions with BDGW to the National Cash Forum; represents ATM operators whose infrastructure is directly adjacent to the cash handling value chain BDGW covers.
• ESTA - European Cash Handling Association: Pan-European counterpart and affiliate of BDGW focused on cash logistics; coordinates joint positions on EU cash regulation, organizes the ESTA Conference (Berlin 2026 hosted with BDGW), and represents CIT operators at EU institutions.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/BDGW_Sprecher
• Facebookfacebook.com/BDGWBundesvereinigungDtGeldundWertdienstleister
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/bdgw-bundesvereinigung-deutscher-geld--und-wertdienste

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Bundesvereinigung Deutscher Geld- und Wertdienste