During the second quarter of 2020, German households’ financial assets grew by €253 billion, or 4.0%, to €6,630 billion at the end of June.

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €16.5 billion in August 2020, down €4.6 billion from the previous month’s level.

At the end of 2019, Germany’s net external assets stood at €2,472 billion, thus amounting to almost 72% of nominal gross domestic product (GDP). The German net external asset position rose by €345 billion year-on-year.

Germany’s current account posted a surplus of €20.0 billion in July 2020, down €0.5 billion from the previous month’s level.

Cashless payment instruments in Germany were already being used more frequently in 2019, i.e. prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was evidenced by the latest figures of the Deutsche Bundesbank’s Statistics on Payments and Securities Trading, Clearing and Settlement.

Die deutsche Leistungsbilanz verzeichnete im Juni 2020 einen Überschuss von 22,4 Mrd €. Das Ergebnis lag damit um 15,4 Mrd € über dem Niveau des Vormonats.

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €6.5 billion in May 2020, putting it €2.6 billion below its level in April.

The Deutsche Bundesbank is putting the results of its architectural competition for the planned new buildings at its Central Office premises in Frankfurt am Main out on display. The exhibition at the German Architecture Museum, featuring the 29 architectural designs submitted, was opened to the public today with a press conference that simultaneously served as a virtual opening.

Zum Ende des ersten Quartals 2020 betrug das Geldvermögen der privaten Haushalte in Deutschland 6 337 Mrd €.

German banks tightened their credit standards and lending conditions again in the second quarter of 2020. While there was a sharp rise in demand for loans to enterprises, demand for loans for house purchase fell for the first time since 2017. This is shown by the results of a survey of German banks’ lending, which is conducted four times a year.

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 is about to become a partner in joint digital financial innovations developed by central banks from all over the world. Together, the French central bank and the Bundesbank will set up an innovation centre at their locations in Frankfurt am Main and Paris.

The architectural design competition for the planned new builds on the campus of the Bundesbank’s Frankfurt Central Office has come to a close. A jury of 13, made up of renowned architects and representatives from the Bundesbank and the City of Frankfurt am Main, concluded two days of deliberations by selecting six prize winners and awarding two honourable mentions out of a total of 29 designs entered in the competition.

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €7.7 billion in April 2020,1 putting it €17.9 billion below the March level.  

According to the latest Bundesbank projections, the German economy will recover following a deep recession in the second quarter of this year. Economic output is estimated to shrink by 7% in 2020, but in the next two years, real gross domestic product (GDP) will then increase by 3 to 4% per year.

The Bundesbank reopens its Money Museum on 25 May 2020, bringing to an end a closure of just over two months during the corona lockdown. The museum will be operating with new precautions in place, designed to control infection.

German direct investment abroad totalled €1,277 billion at the end of 2018. This represents an increase of €70 billion on the year. The United States was again the most important destination for German direct investors, with a figure of €361 billion.

According to a quarterly survey of 34 banks conducted by the Bundesbank, German banks tightened their credit standards and lending terms and conditions further in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. At the same time, there was considerable growth in enterprises’ demand for loans in the first quarter of 2020.

Households’ financial assets rose by €126 billion to around €6.5 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2019. Valuation gains were the main reason for this increase. Households also increased their holdings of currency, deposits, investment fund shares and claims on insurance corporations.

General government debt in Germany was down by €16 billion in 2019 to €2.053 trillion. The debt ratio – the ratio of debt to nominal gross domestic product – therefore fell to 59.8%, dropping below the Maastricht Treaty’s reference value of 60% for the first time since 2002. However, given the coronavirus pandemic and the associated costs, general government debt will rise again sharply in 2020.

In Germany, 32% of the holders of contactless debit cards such as girocard are now taking advantage of the opportunity to pay “on the go”. This is the outcome of a survey commis-sioned by the Bundesbank. “Contactless payment has thus become a fixture of daily life,” according to Bundesbank Executive Board member Burkhard Balz.

The Bundesbank posted a profit of €5.8 billion for the 2019 financial year. Following adjustment of the reserves, the Bank also registered its highest distributable profit since 2008, at €5.9 billion, up from the previous year’s €2.4 billion. The Bundesbank has transferred the profit in full to the Federal Ministry of Finance.

The Bundesbank registered approximately 55,200 counterfeit euro banknotes with a nominal value of €3.3 million in 2019, representing a 5% decrease on the year. Statistically, this equates to seven counterfeit banknotes per 10,000 inhabitants.

The Deutsche Bundesbank and Deutsche Börse have presented the results of a concept study on the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) in the area of collateral management. This study outlines that, in principle, DLT is capable of delivering further benefits in terms of the velocity and usability of collateral.

The financial assets of households in Germany came to €6,302 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2019.

The Deutsche Bundesbank calculates the basic rate of interest and publishes its current level in the Federal Gazette (Bundesanzeiger).

According to the Bundesbank’s latest projections, the German economy will gradually emerge from its current lull. They indicate that, although calendar-adjusted real gross domestic product (GDP) is likely to grow by only around ½% next year, as it did this year, 2021 and 2022 could each see distinctly stronger growth of just under 1½%.

The German financial system remains vulnerable to adverse economic developments. Future credit risk could be underestimated and the recoverability of loan collateral such as real estate overestimated. “An unexpected economic downturn and abrupt rise in risk premia could hit Germany’s financial system hard,” Bundesbank Vice-President Claudia Buch explained, adding that a stable financial system should be able to cushion such shocks rather than amplifying them.

German banks tightened their credit standards for loans to enterprises for the third consecutive period, while guidelines for loans to households for house purchase remained unchanged.

At the end of the second quarter of 2019, the financial assets of households in Germany stood at €6,237 billion. Compared with the previous quarter, this represents an increase of €95 billion, or 1.5%. The purely transaction-related increase in financial assets amounted to €65 billion.

Germany’s net international investment position stood at €2,073 billion at the end of 2018, thus amounting to around 62% of nominal gross domestic product. The German net external asset position rose by €281 billion year-on-year. 

The profitability of small and medium-sized banks and savings banks (less significant institutions, LSIs) in Germany is low. The prospect of a prolonged period of historically low interest rates makes it very likely that profitability will decrease further. This was shown by the recent survey carried out by the Deutsche Bundesbank and the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) on the earnings situation and the resilience of German credit institutions in the low interest rate environment.

People in Germany are increasingly making payments without coins and notes, even for fairly small amounts. This is indicated by the Bundesbank’s statistics on the use of cashless payment instruments in 2018, which show that both the number and the total value of cashless transactions rose on the year.

In the first half of 2019, the Bundesbank recorded approximately 27,600 counterfeit euro banknotes with a nominal value of €1.6 million.

According to the latest Bank Lending Survey (BLS) in Germany, German banks have tightened their credit standards for loans to enterprises once again. For loans to households for house purchase, by contrast, institutions have eased their credit standards somewhat.

At the end of the first quarter of 2019, the financial assets of households in Germany stood at €6,170 billion.

The consolidation process in the German banking sector continued in 2018. However, the number of institutions did not fall as steeply as in the year before on account of new additions in the context of banks operating in Europe and on the international stage preparing for Brexit. Over the course of the year, the overall number of credit institutions fell by 40 to 1,783. This corresponds to a 2.2% decline compared with a drop of 3.4% in 2017. 

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.

After a boom phase, the German economy is currently experiencing a marked cooldown. While the forces driving the domestic economy remain intact, the underlying cyclical trend is subdued. This is mainly attributable to the downturn in industry, where lacklustre exports are taking their toll. According to the Bundesbank’s latest projection, exports should, however, gradually start to pick up again from the second half of the year onwards.

In its meeting on 27 May 2019, the German Financial Stability Committee (G-FSC) decided to submit a recommendation to the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin).

The foreign direct investment stocks reached a new peak at year-end 2017. In 2017, Germany’s primary outward foreign direct investment (FDI) grew considerably by €61 billion and reached a new peak of €1,167 billion at the end of that year. In the opposite direction, inward FDI in Germany rose by €32 billion, likewise achieving its highest ever recorded value (€741 billion).

At the end of the fourth quarter of 2018, the financial assets of households in Germany stood at €6,016 billion. Compared with the third quarter of 2018, this represents a decrease of just over €28 billion.

In the opening quarter of 2019, German banks tightened their credit standards marginally overall for loans to enterprises and slightly for loans to households for house purchase.