Bundesbank economists have studied the factors that have influenced Germany’s TARGET balances over the past 20 years. The results show that the growth of the balances can be divided into four periods. The decline in German TARGET claims in 2018 and 2019 was due in large part to lower and, for a time, discontinued net asset purchases of the Eurosystem, write the Bundesbank’s experts.

Executive Board member Carl-Ludwig Thiele hailed the success of the TARGET2 payment system as he marked ten years since its launch.

To mark its 60th anniversary, the Bundesbank held a high-level symposium in Frankfurt am Main on the future of central banking. Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann highlighted how modern central banking has been shaped by crises, adding that this also applies to the Bundesbank's mandate, which was influenced by the fact that the German population had lost their savings twice in the first half of the 20th century.

A substantial share of bank loans of euro area banks is secured with real estate. In a new study, we examine whether, in the low interest rate environment, banks invested more in foreign real estate-backed lending. Our results suggest that regulatory differences between the bank’s home country and possible destination countries matter for banks’ search for yield.