Two regional banks in Western Germany have closed the accounts of local branches of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), continuing a broader trend of corporate hostility to the poll-topping political party.
The Verbund Volksbank OWL and Volksbank in Ostwestfalen confirmed that they had terminated the AfD Minden-Lübbecke district’s accounts, while declining to provide reasons, citing banking secrecy laws. The AfD condemned the move as politically motivated “debanking.”
Local AfD chairman Sebastian Landwehr said there had been “no misconduct” and accused the banks of targeting “Germany’s biggest opposition party.”
The closures follow similar actions in other German regions. In recent months, Volksbank Düsseldorf-Neuss, Berliner Volksbank and Deutsche Kreditbank have all ended their relationships with AfD branches or politicians.
This comes after Germany’s domestic intelligence agency formally classified the AfD as a “confirmed right-wing extremist organisation”—partly in response to it opposing unfettered illegal migration—in May, granting authorities and private institutions greater legal latitude to distance themselves from the party.
While cooperative Volksbanken is not legally required to maintain party accounts, public-law Sparkassen institutions must do so under German constitutional protections for political parties, leaving them as the AfD’s remaining banking option.
About a year ago an AfD lawmaker in Thuringia, Sascha Schlösser, also had his bank account closed for unknown reasons, highlighting a growing pattern of account terminations affecting the party.
Berliner Volksbank also shuttered the AfD’s federal donation account after a petition from the activist group ‘Grandmothers Against the Right’ (Omas gegen Rechts).
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