It was named after the small Swabian village of Wüstenrot, where the building society was founded.

The merger to form Wüstenrot & Württembergische created one of the ten leading financial service providers in Germany.

Following accounting irregularities and loss of market share (annual financial statements 2004 and 2005) a modernization course was launched in 2006 under the new chairman of the Board of Management, Alexander Erdland.

Since 2008, the W&W Group has presented itself with a newly developed, uniform image for both traditional brands.

On 13 April 2010 it was announced that the financial group W&W would acquire Allianz Dresdner Bauspar via its subsidiary Wüstenrot Bausparkasse.

[10] It was announced on 3 April 2018 that the subsidiary Wüstenrot Bank would be sold to Bremer Kreditbank.