“We want to know what our promotion achieves”

Interview with Dr. Peter Stemper, Deputy Chairman of NRW.BANK’s Managing Board

The success of promotion is not measured by its volume alone. Its sustainable impact on the economy, environment and society also plays a key role. NRW.BANK uses impact management to systematically measure these changes and gain insights that support the targeted development of its promotional business. Dr. Peter Stemper, Deputy Chairman of NRW.BANK’s Managing Board, explains why impact is becoming increasingly important for the Bank.

Dr. Peter Stemper, stellvertretender Vorstandsvorsitzender der NRW.BANK, im Interview.
Dr. Peter Stemper, stellvertretender Vorstandsvorsitzender der NRW.BANK, im Interview.

Dr. Stemper, why is impact management important for NRW.BANK?

For a long time, promotional banks measured their success by promotion volume. This remains an important indicator. However, it does not show what our promotion actually achieves. This is what we want to understand better through impact management: What changes does our promotion bring about for North Rhine-Westphalia’s economy, environment and society? Impact management therefore adds a crucial perspective to promotion volume.

How can impact be measured?

We have defined impact categories that reflect North Rhine-Westphalia’s key fields of action. These include climate, energy supply, digitalisation and innovation, competition and employment, as well as housing. We have developed indicators for these categories that enable us to systematically assess the impact of our promotional business across the Bank. Reliable data plays a key role in this. The better we understand what our promotion achieves, the more systematically we can learn from it.

What do you know today that you did not know before?

We can describe the results of our promotional business much more clearly. In 2025, for example, our promotion helped to create or secure more than 46,100 jobs. We supported around 4,200 climate protection projects, as well as almost 1,500 digitalisation and innovation projects. In addition, around 19,000 housing units were created through the promotion of public housing in cooperation with the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Such figures make the outcomes behind a promotion volume tangible.

Impact Management at NRW.BANK

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    Jobs created and secured

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    climate promotion projects

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    subsidised housing units

What practical benefit does this knowledge offer NRW.BANK?

First and foremost, impact measurement creates transparency. However, we want to achieve more than that: we want to use these findings to further develop our promotional business. If we know which instruments are particularly effective and which have not yet reached their full potential, we can use this to derive impetus for our promotional programmes. Impact management is therefore a strategic management tool and a continuous learning process.

Does this mean that promotion volume will no longer count in future, and only impact will matter?

No. Promotion volume remains important. But we want to take a more comprehensive view of success. Ultimately, it is not only about how much capital we provide, but also about what this capital achieves in North Rhine-Westphalia. Our ambition is therefore to bring the two together: effective promotion and an ever better understanding of its impact. If we know where promotion has a particularly strong effect, we can align it even more precisely with the challenges and requirements of our federal state.

Impact Management at NRW.BANK