This town may never be mentioned in the same breath as New York, London or Tokyo. But when it comes to important financial centers, Frankfurt still has some chops.
The city is home to some of Europe's largest commercial banks and the headquarters of two of the world's biggest central banks: the European Central Bank and Germany's Bundesbank. The proposed acquisition of NYSE Euronext by Deutsche Börse AG looks to tie the Frankfurt-based exchange operator to the New York Stock Exchange, the largest share-trading venue in the world.
Meanwhile, Frankfurt also boasts one of the world's busiest airports and is drawing major companies such as KPMG to set up base here.
Yet Frankfurters describe their home as a "20-minute city," because of the ease of getting from one end to another. Its Westend, Ostend, Nordend, Bornheim and Sachsenhausen districts are all connected by bus, underground and trams.
Industry is scarce here, too. Most of the big drivers of the German economy are in the south. And while Frankfurt's airport and its banking district have seen huge amounts of new development and renovations in recent years, office properties in some of the outlying suburbs have fallen into disuse.
The city's ties to finance date all the way back to the Middle Ages, when Frankfurt's central location made it a mercantile hot spot. Later, after the invention of the printing press in nearby Mainz, the Frankfurt book fair took off, along with related banking businesses. The city also minted money for German and Austrian monarchs.
Frankfurt's financial importance waned as the political winds shifted. World War II destroyed 70% of the city, although its central location and excellent rail and air connections kept it relevant.
Then things changed again. The post-war transfer of Germany's capital from Berlin to Bonn meant industry and business were once more scattered throughout Germany. Frankfurt regained its role as the nation's financial capital. The city also rebuilt in a modern style, allowing for Germany's tallest skyscrapers, earning the city a nickname, "Mainhattan," referring to the Main River.
In recent years, new buildings such as the Commerzbank Tower have ushered in a trendier look. Certain eyesores have been replaced, and a small part of the city's medieval center restored. Some of the more interesting ways of getting around town, meanwhile, include Apfelwein (apple wine) trolleys and portable bars, called BierBikes, which are pedaled (but not steered) by beer-drinking revelers.
The city is now entering the post-crisis era, with boosts from the booming German economy and the advantage of relative stability, compared with some of its bigger rivals.
Frankfurt Airport—practically a city in itself, with 70,000 employees in the vicinity—is the world's ninth-largest, moving over 53 million passengers last year, not including the dogs, cats, thoroughbred horses and even elephants in transit that made use of the "animal lounge." A new runway will give the airport even more capacity.
Companies are taking notice, especially those that depend on travel. KPMG is moving its European headquarters to Frankfurt from London, installing more than 2,000 consultants and other staff in a massive new building across from the airport. It's the longest commercial structure in Europe, at seven football fields in length. Two Hilton hotels are going up at the airport, too.
But perhaps nothing symbolizes Frankfurt's financial prowess more than the European Central Bank's €850 million ($1.2 billion) office complex now going up on the banks of the Main, in the city's gritty East End. In three years it is scheduled to replace the ECB's rented buildings downtown, which have housed the bank since its creation in the 1990s.
The site of the new headquarters formerly hosted one of Germany's largest wholesale fruit and vegetable markets, the Grossmarkthalle. The facade of the historic market building will be retained as the base of the new skyscraper.
