Berenberg Bank has around 1,600 employees; in addition to its headquarters in Hamburg, it has significant presences in London, Frankfurt and New York City, and 14 further offices in Europe and the Americas.

[5] The bank is organized as a limited partnership with personally liable partners, and is noted for its conservative business strategy.

[7] Today the bank is run by three managing partners: Hendrik Riehmer, David Mortlock, Christian Kühn.

He forged trade links with France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Scandinavia and Russia.

Family connections of the Berenbergs were instrumental to the development, especially in Livorno and Lisbon with their colonies of wealthy Dutch merchants.

By the mid 18th century, investment banking and acceptance credits comprised a significant part of the firm's activities.

Johann Hinrich Gossler and Elisabeth Berenberg were the founders of the Berenberg-Gossler family, which rose to great prominence in Hamburg from the late 18th century.

Seyler's seventeen years younger brother-in-law Johann Heinrich Gossler (1775–1842) joined the firm in 1798 and became a Hamburg senator in 1821.

Berenberg, Goßler & Co. as "an example of a significant Hamburg trading house that achieved prosperity, among other things, due to its extensive sugar imports (...) their diverse sugar import business after 1814, especially with Brazil, the U.S., and East Asia, which in part continued their trade relations from the late 18th century, likely contributed significantly to the acquisition of their wealth.

In conjunction with their position as merchant bankers, this firm acquired a prestigious standing beyond the borders of Germany, a status that few trading houses had around 1830.

Seyler's children were briefly co-owners of Berenberg Bank; they have many prominent descendants in Hamburg and Norway, e.g. in the family Paus.

Berenberg Bank was also involved in financing Norway's leading industrial enterprise, Blaafarveværket, whose CEO and co-owner Benjamin Wegner was Anna Henriette Gossler and L.E.

Merck & Co.) one of the main founders of Germany's largest shipping companies, the Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) in 1847 and Norddeutscher Lloyd in 1857.

They were also one of the main founders of Vereinsbank Hamburg (now the HypoVereinsbank) (1857), the Ilseder Hütte ironworks (1858), and the Norddeutsche Versicherungs AG (1857).

The bank is active in the following business segments: Berenberg Bank has its head office in Hamburg and significant presences in London, Frankfurt and New York City, as well as offices in Düsseldorf, Munich, Münster, Stuttgart, Brussels, Geneva, Paris, Boston, San Francisco and Chicago.

In 2017 Berenberg Capital Markets rented the entire 53rd floor of 1251 Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan.

[21] Berenberg Bank is currently run by three personally liable partners, Hendrik Riehmer, David Mortlock and Christian Kühn.