Bank business days 2026: the days money is booked

Pick a month: the tool shows the number of bank business days, the first and last in the month and the bank holidays of the year.

Bank business days, December 2026

22

Closed besides weekends: Christmas Day (Fri 25 December), Boxing Day (Sat 26 December).

First bank business dayTue 1 December
Last bank business dayThu 31 December
Bank business days in 2026254
How this is calculated
Nationwide bank holidays 2026 (TARGET = also a closing day of the European payment system)
DateHolidayTARGET
Thursday, 1 January 2026New Year's Dayyes
Friday, 3 April 2026Good Fridayyes
Monday, 6 April 2026Easter Mondayyes
Friday, 1 May 2026Labour Dayyes
Thursday, 14 May 2026Ascension Dayno
Monday, 25 May 2026Whit Mondayno
Saturday, 3 October 2026German Unity Dayno
Friday, 25 December 2026Christmas Dayyes
Saturday, 26 December 2026Boxing Dayyes

Prepared by Radif Partners · Method · dates and statutes checked on 28 October 2026

Germany has 254 bank business days in 2026. A bank business day is any Monday to Friday that is neither a nationwide public holiday nor a closing day of the European TARGET payment system. Of the 9 bank holidays, only 7 fall on a weekday in 2026; German Unity Day and Boxing Day are on a Saturday and cost no business day. 6 of them are also TARGET closing days, when no euro transfers between banks are settled anywhere in Europe. May has the fewest bank business days with 18, because of Labour Day, Ascension Day and Whit Monday; July has the most with 23. Easter Sunday falls on 5 April 2026. Regional holidays such as Corpus Christi or Reformation Day change nothing for booking days, because transfers are cleared nationwide. Pensions, Grundsicherungsgeld and unemployment benefit all follow from this calendar.

Bank business days by month in 2026

Bank business days 2026, 254 in total
MonthBank business daysFirstLast
January21Fri 2 JanuaryFri 30 January
February20Mon 2 FebruaryFri 27 February
March22Mon 2 MarchTue 31 March
April20Wed 1 AprilThu 30 April
May18Mon 4 MayFri 29 May
June22Mon 1 JuneTue 30 June
July23Wed 1 JulyFri 31 July
August21Mon 3 AugustMon 31 August
September22Tue 1 SeptemberWed 30 September
October22Thu 1 OctoberFri 30 October
November21Mon 2 NovemberMon 30 November
December22Tue 1 DecemberThu 31 December

The last bank business day of a month is the pension payment day under section 118 SGB VI; the first is the day from which benefits paid in arrears are available. The payment calendar shows what that means for your benefit.

Bank holidays 2026

Nationwide holidays 2026 and ECB TARGET closing days
HolidayDateTARGET
New Year's DayThursday, 1 January 2026closed
Good FridayFriday, 3 April 2026closed
Easter MondayMonday, 6 April 2026closed
Labour DayFriday, 1 May 2026closed
Ascension DayThursday, 14 May 2026open
Whit MondayMonday, 25 May 2026open
German Unity DaySaturday, 3 October 2026open
Christmas DayFriday, 25 December 2026closed
Boxing DaySaturday, 26 December 2026closed

The movable holidays depend on Easter Sunday, which the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt gives using Gauss's Easter formula. German Unity Day is set in the Unification Treaty and is the only holiday under federal law. The European Central Bank publishes the closing days of the European system. Two holidays fall on a Saturday in 2026: German Unity Day (Sat 3 October) and Boxing Day (Sat 26 December). For a comparison with the following year, see bank business days 2027.

Bank business days in your month of 2026

Bank business days, May 2026

18

First bank business dayMon 4 May
Last bank business dayFri 29 May
Bank business days in 2026254
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Common questions

When does a day in 2026 count as a bank business day?

When banks execute and credit transfers on it: Monday to Friday, except nationwide public holidays. The European Central Bank’s TARGET closing days are excluded too, but in 2026 they are all public holidays anyway. The table below counts these days for every month of 2026, with the first and the last.

Are Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve bank business days?

Yes, both. Neither 24 nor 31 December is a public holiday or TARGET closing day. In 2026 New Year’s Eve is a Thursday, and the December pension and Grundsicherungsgeld for January arrive that day. No major benefit is due on Christmas Eve itself.

Do holidays in my federal state count?

Not for transfers. Corpus Christi, All Saints’ Day, Reformation Day or the Day of Repentance are only holidays in some states; payment traffic continues nationwide on those days. Your branch may be closed, but the credit still arrives. Only the nationwide calendar counts for the payment dates on this site.

Keep going

Bank business days 2027

More booking days than in 2026

Dates December 2026

Christmas, New Year’s Eve, turn of the year

Pension dates 2026

All twelve payment days, official list

Grundsicherungsgeld

Grundsicherungsgeld (formerly Bürgergeld): in advance

Official sources for this page

Prepared by

Publisher of an independent calendar of German benefit payment days: child benefit, pension, basic income support, unemployment benefit, parental allowance, housing benefit and BAföG

Updated on · Editorial policy · Contact

As of 2026, dates and statutes checked on