Bankenviertel

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The Bankenviertel (banking district) is the central business district of Frankfurt, Germany, located in the city centre. It is one of the largest financial centres in Europe along with La Défense in the Paris aire urbaine and London's City and Canary Wharf.

Panorama view seen from the Main Tower observation deck: Innenstadt (left), Bahnhofsviertel (middle) and Westend (right)

The Bankenviertel is not an official city district but it is a commonly used designation to describe the not exactly defined area where most of Germanys major banks have their headquarters and where many foreign banks have their representation offices. It is also the place where most of Frankfurts skyscrapers are located. It streches across three city districts: the western part of the Innenstadt, the southern part of the Westend and the eastern part of the Bahnhofsviertel.

Innenstadt

View from the Goethe Tower in the south

View from the Frankfurt Cathedral

Most of the financial institutions are located at Neue Mainzer Straße, Große Gallusstraße, Junghofstraße and the surrounding streets. The Bank of Communications, European Central Bank, Commerzbank, Helaba, Citibank, Credit Suisse, Houlihan Lokey, JPMorgan Chase, Metzler Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Standard & Poor's and Société Générale are some of the well-known institutions based here. Frankfurts tallest building, the Commerzbank Tower with a height of 259 meters, is located at Kaiserplatz. The Main Tower at Neue Mainzer Straße is the only skyscraper in the city with an observation desk open to the public. The Frankfurt Stock Exchange at Börsenplatz is by far the largest stock exchange in Germany and one of the most important in the world.

Westend

Other institutions are based in the Westend on both sides of Mainzer Landstraße between Platz der Republik and Opernplatz, including Deutsche Bank, DZ Bank, UBS, BHF Bank, DekaBank, and HypoVereinsbank. The tallest building is the Westend Tower with 208 meters, the headquarters of DZ Bank.

Bahnhofsviertel

The Bahnhofsviertel was once dominated by Dresdner Bank with two skyscrapers, Silberturm and Gallileo, now Deutsche Bahn is the main tenant of the Silver Tower and Gallileo belongs to Commerzbank.

Public transport

The Bankenviertel is very well accessible with the public transport system. Eight of nine suburban S-Bahn lines (S1-S6, S8, S9) serve the stations Hauptwache, Taunusanlage and Frankfurt Central Station. All inner-city U-Bahn lines have stops within the area: U1-U3 at Willy-Brandt-Platz and Hauptwache, U4 and U5 at Willy-Brandt-Platz and Frankfurt Central Station, U6 and U7 at Hauptwache and Alte Oper. The tram line 12 stops at Frankfurt Central Station and Willy-Brandt-Platz, the lines 11, 16, 17 and 21 also serve the central station and Platz der Republik.

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