After adjustment for special factors in 2021, the consolidation process in the German banking sector, which has been going on for many years now, continued in 2022. Over the course of the year, the overall number of credit institutions fell by 61 (160 in the previous year) to 1,458.

The monetary policy tightening seen in the euro area since the beginning of 2022 has led to changes in bank interest rates in Germany, the Bundesbank’s economists write in the latest Monthly Report. For the most part, interest rates on loans to enterprises have risen as strongly as expected, while those on loans for house purchase have increased more strongly than they were expected to. The interest rate on time deposits was raised rapidly and by as much as expected, while that on overnight deposits was adjusted upwards only marginally.

Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel believes that a further rise in interest rates will be necessary. Be that as it may, he told the audience at the Bundesbank symposium “Banking supervision in dialogue”, how high they still need to go was impossible to say at this point in time – it would depend on how on inflation developed, which he saw as being highly uncertain. Bundesbank Vice-President Claudia Buch referred to the many challenges for banks posed by the trends of digitalisation, demographics, decarbonisation and deglobalisation. BaFin President Mark Branson warned of greenwashing in the financial sector.