The Bundesbank registered approximately 63,000 counterfeit euro banknotes with a nominal value of €3.3 million in 2014, which represents a 63 % increase year on year. Statistically, this­ equates to eight counterfeit banknotes per 10,000 inhabitants.

German credit institutions eased their lending policies in all three surveyed lines of business in the final quarter of 2014.

The role of trade in goods in the development of global imbalances

In the third quarter of 2014, the financial assets of households rose by €28 billion on the quarter, climbing to €5,011 billion. While the transaction-related acquisition of financial assets amounted to just under €34.5 billion, leaving it roughly unchanged compared to the previous quarter, valuation losses, notably on shares, curtailed growth in assets by around €6.5 billion. With regard to types of investment, the trend towards liquid and lower-risk assets, which has been evident for some time now, continued into the third quarter.

The Bundesbank successfully continued and further stepped up its transfers of gold last year. In 2014, 120 tonnes of gold were transferred to Frankfurt am Main from storage locations abroad: 35 tonnes from Paris and 85 tonnes from New York.

Dr Johannes Beermann today took up office as a member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank. The Bundesbank's Executive Board has therefore reshuffled its areas of responsibility.