Berlin has established itself as an important European hub for the services industries.

With the decision of BASF to open a European Shared Service Centre (ESSC) in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, which now has over 2,000 jobs, more and more service centres from the areas of finance and accounting have moved to Berlin. Deutsche Bank has set up its international centre for risk management with around 700 employees in Charlottenburg. Daimler, the finance subsidiary Mercedes Bank and Amazon opened customer centres in Mitte, as well as for example Lidl, Deutsche Lufthansa and Bosch.

Berlin offers the following advantages

Location of large international companies – Amazon, BASF (ESSC), Deutsche Bank, Mercedes Bank, Ebay
Attractive properties
Seat of the Federal Government, home to embassies, associations and lobbyists
Exemplary dense and modern telecommunications infrastructure
Optimal regional and supraregional transportation connections
High quality of life
Close cooperation between science and industry in over 70 non-university research facilities
Attractive funding opportunities and funding programs

Market potential

Berlin offers a large local market with approx. 3.7 million consumers.
Services make up Berlin's largest economic sector with the highest proportion of start-ups and enterprises locating to the city.
The company-related service sectors are an important pillar of Berlin’s economy with almost 30% (approx. 70 billion Euro in 2019) of Berlin’s turnover.
The company-related service providers have created the majority of the new jobs in Berlin in recent years. A total of more than 660,000 people are employed here.
The communications, consulting and services sectors are experiencing vigorous growth.
In the context of Berlin's information and communication technologies, new services are in demand and have emerged.
A large pool of qualified management talent and trained specialists is available to employers.
Numerous research institutions promote an innovative climate.
The effects of the Corona pandemic are burdening individual branches of the service economy, while other branches are recording good growth (for example, online trade).

Berlin offers optimal opportunities for:

Decision-making headquarters, administrative headquarters, European headquarters;
Company representative offices, Berlin offices;
Services for companies and institutions (B2B);
Businesses in the trade fairs and event management sector;
Advertising, public relations and marketing;
Service centers (call centers, shared service centers, customer care centers, contact centers);
Security and guard services;
Institutions providing training and development to professionals;
Associations.

(Sources: including Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Enterprises, Chamber of Commerce Berlin, Berlin Partner for Economics and Technology annual reports, IBB economic reports)

Large services companies in Berlin

Berlin's importance as the headquarters for companies with global operations is growing. An address in Germany's capital lends prestige. More and more "global players" are establishing locations for their service companies in Berlin.