Low interest rates and an ample supply of central bank liquidity have helped to ease the tensions on the international financial markets. So far this year, the German financial system has also benefited from this situation. However, the Bundesbank believes that these exceptional financial conditions present risks to financial stability the longer they prevail.

German banks’ lending policy remained virtually unchanged, on the whole, in the third quarter of 2013. This was the outcome of the latest round of the Bank Lending Survey.