The Deutsche Bundesbank hosted its first International Conference on Payments and Settlement on 9 and 10 September 2015. About eighty researchers, central bank analysts and practitioners from all over the world joined the conference to discuss the most recent studies and to learn about developments, challenges, and risks for payments and settlement.

Deutsche Bundesbank, Conference Centre in Eltville am Rhein, 09.-10.09.2015

Some households contribute only a small amount of equity when buying property financed by a loan. If they then default on the loan, lenders may incur losses. Should the problem affect a large number of lenders, this could potentially jeopardise financial stability. Minimum requirements for the own funds households need to provide can limit losses that may arise. However, this would mean that some households can no longer obtain loans in the desired amount. A Bundesbank study shows that a large proportion of the households interested in buying which would be affected by this are then willing to buy a cheaper property or to save more in order to buy at a later date. The impact on homeownership is therefore likely to be smaller in the medium than in the short term.