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OVB was founded in Cologne in 1970 as Organization zur Vermittlung von Bausparverträgen, a broker for German building-savings contracts. The product matched postwar demand for structured home saving with later access to preferential loans. Banks and building societies had the products, but lacked enough advisers to reach households directly, and OVB built its model around home-based client consulting.

The company soon moved beyond building savings. It added life and property insurance, then investment funds and pension products, forming an Allfinanz model based on broader financial planning. Instead of selling its own products, OVB compared offers from external providers. Germany’s AWD, founded in 1988, later used a similar independent-intermediary model.

OVB first expanded to Austria and Greece. In 1992, after German reunification and the opening of Eastern Europe, it entered Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. Slovakia followed in 1993, Switzerland in 1995, Italy and Spain in 2002, and France in 2003. In Spain and Italy, aging populations and weak private pension provision created demand for retirement products outside traditional bank branches.

On 21 July 2006, OVB Holding AG listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange’s Prime Standard. The IPO placed 2,857,128 shares, including 1,135,000 new shares, with Sal. Oppenheim as lead manager. In 2018, OVB entered Belgium, and in December 2022, it opened a Slovenian subsidiary, its sixteenth market. The company kept its broker model, working with more than 100 insurers, banks, building societies, and fund managers, unlike tied agents of groups such as Allianz.