The G7 finance ministers and central bank governors at the G7 meeting near Paris.

The consolidation process in the German banking sector continued in 2018. The total number of credit institutions in Germany has fallen by 40 to 1,783 institutions.

The global financial crisis was a lesson that it is not enough to merely monitor the stability of individual banks – the stability of the banking sector as a whole is also a crucial factor, which is precisely what the countercyclical capital buffer (CCyB), a key instrument under the Basel III regime, is there to help safeguard. However, recent research indicates that adhering too strictly to the reference indicator envisaged under the Basel III framework might lead to a situation in which supervisors activate the CCyB either too late or not at all ahead of a future financial crisis.

The June 2019 edition of the Bundesbank’s Monthly Report outlines the prospects for the German economy on the basis of projections for 2019 and 2020 and looks ahead at the year 2021. It also covers the overhaul of European banking regulation and features an analysis of the costs associated with different means of payment in the retail sector. Lastly, the changing face of payments services is explored, with reference to instant payments, PSD2 and new competitors.

Whenever financial markets react to ECB Governing Council meetings, the explanation seems obvious: the Governing Council surprised markets, for instance, by changing its policy rate or by hinting at a future rate change. Any market reaction would thus stem from unexpected announcements about monetary policy. The response of different asset prices such as bond yields and stock prices, however, often contradicts this simple explanation. A new study indicates that these seemingly puzzling reactions are driven by information about the economic outlook that the ECB reveals via its announcements.