German banks tightened credit standards for loans to enterprises, loan to households for house purchase, and for  consumer credit and other lending to households in the fourth quarter of 2024. Loan demand increased further in all loan categories, especially for loans to households for house purchase.

In the third quarter of 2024, German households’ financial assets grew by €197 billion, closing the quarter at a new record high of €9,004 billion. This is a continuation of the uninterrupted growth trend that has lasted since end-2023.

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €24.1 billion in November 2024, up €10.4 billion on the previous month’s level. This was caused by a larger surplus in the goods account and especially by the shift to a surplus in invisible current transactions, which comprise services as well as primary and secondary income.

The Deutsche Bundesbank calculates the basic rate of interest pursuant to Section 247(1) of the German Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch) and publishes its current level in the Federal Gazette (Bundesanzeiger) pursuant to Section 247(2) of the German Civil Code.

The Deutsche Bundesbank mourns the passing of its former president, Helmut Schlesinger, who died on 23 December 2024 at the age of 100. 

Paying with cash or a debit card is the cheapest payment method for consumers in Germany. Cash incurs the lowest costs per payment transaction, while debit cards are cheapest in relation to the amount of money spent. Paying with a credit card is in any case considerably more expensive. These are the conclusions drawn by a study entitled “Costs of cash and card payments from a consumer perspective”, which was carried out on behalf of the Deutsche Bundesbank.

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €12.5 billion in October 2024, down €8.8 billion on the previous month’s level. This was caused by the smaller surplus in the goods account and especially by the shift to a deficit in invisible current transactions, which comprise services as well as primary and secondary income.

The National Cash Forum, initiated by the Deutsche Bundesbank in February 2024, has launched a new website to serve as a neutral source of information on all aspects of cash.

The German financial system has weathered the period of exceptionally strongly rising interest rates well overall and remained stable over the past twelve months, too. Interest rates have gone back down in the meantime.

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €22.6 billion in September 2024, up €5.5 billion on the previous month’s level. This was caused by the larger surplus in the goods account and especially by the shift to a surplus in invisible current transactions, which comprise services as well as primary and secondary income.

A joint initiative by companies and institutions based in and around Frankfurt’s Bahnhofsviertel – the district surrounding its central railway station – intends to help improve the difficult situation in the area. Known as the BHV corporate initiative (BHV being an acronym for Bahnhofsviertel), it aims to make a positive contribution to the district and support selected social projects through constructive dialogue with the city.

In the second quarter of 2024, German households’ financial assets grew by €136 billion, closing the quarter at €8,815 billion. This represents a new all-time high.

For the first time in nearly three years, the German banks responding to the Bank Lending Survey (BLS) did not tighten their credit standards for loans to enterprises further in the third quarter of 2024, but eased them marginally instead. On the other hand, they once again tightened their credit standards for loans to households for house purchase and for consumer credit and other lending to households For the fourth quarter, banks are planning to tighten their credit standards for loans to enterprises again, partly owing to pessimistic market and economic expectations.

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €14.4 billion in August 2024, down €3.3 billion on the previous month’s level. This was chiefly attributable to a smaller goods account surplus.

Implementation in the EU of the Basel III reform package will lead to a 3.3% increase in minimum required capital (MRC) by 2030 for a sample of 36 German financial institutions. The Bundesbank calculated this result in a study based on data from large institutions in particular.

The banking stress test just conducted jointly by BaFin and the Bundesbank has shown that the profitability of small and medium-sized banks and savings banks in Germany improved significantly in 2023. Institutions have emerged from the interest rate reversal with stronger profitability and a higher capital base, and are also prepared for a severe crisis scenario. At a joint press conference in Frankfurt, Raimund Röseler, Chief Executive Director of Banking Supervision at BaFin, and Michael Theurer, the Bundesbank Executive Board member responsible for banking supervision, presented the results of the “LSI stress test”.

At the end of 2023, Germany’s net external assets totalled €2,964 billion, thus amounting to just over 70% of Germany’s nominal gross domestic product (GDP). Overall, both assets and liabilities vis-à-vis non-residents rose further in 2023.

The Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank did not raise any objections to the nomination of Dr Fritzi Köhler-Geib as a member of the Executive Board. The outcome of the consultation has been communicated to the Bundesrat.

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €16.0 billion in July 2024, down €4.6 billion on the previous month’s level. This was attributable to a lower goods account surplus and a higher deficit in invisible current transactions, which comprise services as well as primary and secondary income.

The Bundesbank is once again offering the public a glimpse backstage. On 14 and 15 September, the German central bank is hosting an Open Day at its Regional Office in Hesse in Frankfurt’s city centre.

With effect from Monday, 2 September 2024, Dr Sabine Mauderer was appointed First Deputy Governor of the Bundesbank. Furthermore, Lutz Lienenkämper and Michael Theurer joined the Bundesbank’s Executive Board. The responsibilities within the Executive Board have therefore been reallocated. The following reallocation of responsibilities comes into effect

The Bundesbank has now launched the digital exhibition “From Brutus to Brandt – Coins as eyewitness and testament to our past”, which provides insight into the role that coins play as communicators of historical events.

Germany’s current account posted a surplus of € 23.2 billion in June 2024, up € 4.9 billion on the previous month’s level. The goods account surplus decreased, yet the deficit in invisible current transactions narrowed to a far greater extent.

On Friday, 26 July 2024, the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank was consulted pursuant to Section 7(3) of the Bundesbank Act on the nomination of Dr Sabine Mauderer as Vice-President and Mr Michael Theurer as Member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank.

In the period from January to June 2024, the Bundesbank removed significantly more counterfeit money from circulation in Germany than in the six months prior, detecting around 38,600 counterfeit euro banknotes with a nominal value of €2.4 million. This was 29% more than in the second half of 2023. Meanwhile, the total loss arising from counterfeit banknotes was only slightly up, by just under 5%. The increase was driven by easily identifiable counterfeits, especially of €10 and €20 banknotes, said Burkhard Balz, the Bundesbank’s Executive Board member whose remit includes cash management.

The number of card payments has continued to grow steadily since the end of the pandemic. In 2023, it rose by almost 16 % on the previous year to 11.8 billion transactions. 

Das Nettogeldvermögen privater Haushalte ist weiter gestiegen. Die Bewertungsgewinne treiben den Vermögenszuwachs an. Die reale Rendite steigt auf 1,4 Prozent. Die Unternehmensfinanzierung steigt leicht an, Verbindlichkeiten wachsen.
 

The German banks responding to the Bank Lending Survey (BLS) barely tightened their credit standards for loans to enterprises any further in the second quarter of 2024. They slightly tightened their credit standards for loans to households for house purchase and for consumer credit and other lending to households. Overall, the adjustments were somewhat less than had been planned in the previous quarter.

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €18.5 billion in May 2024, down €6.6 billion on the previous month’s level. The goods account surplus increased slightly, but the deficit in invisible current transactions widened to a far greater extent.

Cash remains the most frequently used means of payment at the point of sale in Germany. This is one of the findings of the Bundesbank’s latest study on payment behaviour in Germany for 2023. However, card and mobile payments are gaining significant ground, while the share of cash payments is declining. Although this decline is no longer as pronounced as during the coronavirus pandemic, the share of cash payments is falling faster than in previous years,” said Executive Board member Burkhard Balz.

The Deutsche Bundesbank calculates the basic rate of interest pursuant to Section 247(1) of the German Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch) and publishes its current level in the Federal Gazette (Bundesanzeiger) pursuant to Section 247(2) of the German Civil Code.

In April 2024, Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €25.9 billion, down €1.9 billion on the previous month’s level. This was due to a decrease in the goods account surplus.

The German economy is slowly regaining its footing after a roughly two-year period of weakness, according to the Bundesbank’s current Forecast for Germany.

Many people in Germany are open to the idea of the digital euro. At the same time, there are still gaps in the general public’s knowledge about the planned new means of payment. These are the results of a recent representative survey of 2,012 people conducted by forsa, a market research and opinion polling company, on behalf of the Deutsche Bundesbank in April 2024. 

At the end of 2022, Germany’s primary outward foreign direct investment (FDI) stocks were higher than at the end of 2021, by just under 3% to €1,634 billion net. Inward FDI was also up on its end-2021 level, rising by 6.5% to €956 billion. Although Germany’s FDI assets indicated significantly weaker investment activity than in the year prior, it recorded an overall increase of €75 billion in 2023 (2022: €170 billion). The increase of German liabilities was €15 billion, which is one-quarter of the previous year’s figure.

The Deutsche Bundesbank plans to forgo the construction of new office buildings on its Central Office premises in Frankfurt am Main. Its forthcoming new strategy for the Frankfurt location will encompass the Bundesbank’s Regional Office buildings in the city centre.

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €27.6 billion in March 2024, down €1.1 billion on the previous month’s level. This was mainly attributable to a lower surplus in invisible current transactions, which comprise services as well as primary and secondary income.

The consolidation process in the German banking sector, which has been in progress for many years now, continued in 2023 – albeit at a somewhat slower pace than in previous years. 

Following the decline in the previous quarter, households’ financial assets rose by €250 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023, amounting to €7,716 billion at the end of the year. 

The Deutsche Bundesbank and the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (CES) at Harvard University are hosting a joint exhibition in Cambridge showcasing modern art from post-war Germany. Entitled “Parallel Beginnings: New German Expressionists & Ida Kerkovius,” the exhibition features abstract art by members of the “Quadriga” group – Karl Otto Götz, Heinz Kreutz and Bernard Schultze – as well as works by Ida Kerkovius.

The Deutsche Bundesbank and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have agreed to conduct a joint research project on central bank digital currency (CBDC). Together with the MIT Media Lab’s Digital Currency Initiative (DCI) research team, the Bundesbank’s experts will investigate new technologies that could potentially be used in the design of CBDC. The MIT DCI is one of the world’s leading research groups in this field.

The German current account recorded a surplus of €29.8 billion in February 2024, up €1.8 billion on the previous month’s level. Although the surplus in invisible current transactions, which comprise services as well as primary and secondary income, declined, the surplus in the goods account grew by an even wider margin.  

General government debt in Germany increased by €62 billion in 2023 to €2.62 trillion. The basis for this calculation is government debt as defined in the Maastricht Treaty, which is harmonised across the European Union. The increase was similar to that of the previous year, but significantly weaker than in the years before. Central government debt grew by €75 billion, while state government debt continued to fall.

An artificial intelligence (AI) application developed by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and its project partners, the Bank of Spain, the Deutsche Bundesbank and the European Central Bank, enables analysis of climate-related risks in the financial system.

The Deutsche Bundesbank has taken receipt of a comprehensive study on the history of central banking in Germany between the years 1924 and 1970. The large-scale research project entitled “From the Reichsbank to the Bundesbank” looks into the history of the Reichsbank as the central bank during the Nazi era as well as investigating continuities in terms of personnel after the central banks Bank deutscher Länder and Deutsche Bundesbank were established after the war.

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €29.7 billion in January 2024, down €1.9 billion on the previous month’s level. The goods account surplus increased significantly, but this was outweighed by a stronger decline in the surplus in invisible current transactions, which comprise services as well as primary and secondary income.

Last year, the Bundesbank’s annual accounts were shaped by the increase in the key interest rates. For the 2023 financial year, the Bundesbank reports a balanced financial result because it was able to use its financial buffers to cushion burdens in the double-digit billions.