The monetary policy turnaround shaped the Bundesbank’s balance sheet last year. The profit and loss account for 2022 reported a distributable profit of zero.

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 Deutsche Bundesbank has presented a balanced result for the year 2021. As in the previous year, the Bank is not transferring any profit to the Federal budget. Explaining this decision, Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said it was necessary to further increase the risk provisions on account of the emergency monetary policy measures taken to counter the impact of the pandemic