Accessibility in Banking: Opportunities and Obligations for Financial Institutions

Starting June 28, 2025, Germany's Accessibility Strengthening Act (Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz, BFSG) comes into force, implementing EU Directive 2019/882 on accessibility requirements for products and services. This legislative change particularly affects banks and online retailers, who are required to make their products and services accessible.

Legal Framework / Requirements Accessibility laws build on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), developed by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). These guidelines define various conformance levels (A, AA, AAA) describing how accessible a website should be. The BFSG specifically references WCAG Level AA, which serves as the standard for implementing accessibility in digital offerings. It stipulates that products and services for consumers must be designed to be accessible from 2025 onward.

Accessibility on Websites and in Online Stores Implementing accessibility also affects the digital domain, especially websites and online shops. Beyond improved navigation and high-contrast displays, websites must also be compatible with assistive technologies such as screen readers. This software reads a website's content aloud for visually impaired users and requires clear, semantic content structuring along with the use of WAI-ARIA attributes. Accessibility therefore means not just visual design, but also an accessible content structure that allows all users to understand and use the website.

Who Does This Affect? Besides banks and savings banks, other companies are affected too, particularly those operating in electronic commerce. This includes companies in retail, e-commerce, insurance, and other service industries. The BFSG applies to companies of all sizes, though exemptions are provided for micro-enterprises with low revenue or few employees. However, accessibility on the internet isn't just a legal obligation — it's also an opportunity to improve the user experience and boost a website's visibility in search engines.

Overall, the Accessibility Strengthening Act offers companies an opportunity to make their products and services accessible, thereby promoting participation and inclusion for all.

How Can Acceleraid Help?

We've worked with numerous banks and insurers for years on accessible customer experiences. As personalization experts, we have the experience needed to tailor the customer experience for any industry and any target audience.

Migrating your pages can be dramatically accelerated with our AI-powered personalization solution. We also have extensive experience integrating with all major CMS platforms. Our software detects in 200 milliseconds what the page needs to look like for each target group so they get an ideal experience.

Feel free to reach out to us so we can develop a tailored use case for you.