Bundesbank Executive Board member Burkhard Balz says that more needs to be done to build confidence in blockchain networks. Permissioned networks might be one way forward, he explained at an event in Frankfurt am Main.

Diana Rutzka-Hascher, previously President of the Bundesbank’s Regional Office in Hesse, is now head of the Bank's Directorate General Human Resources at Central Office, while HR chief Thomas Ollinger has taken her position as the new President of the Regional Office. Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann congratulated the two officials at a function in Frankfurt am Main attended by around 170 invited guests.

Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier has appointed Jens Weidmann President of the Bundesbank for another eight years, with effect from 1 May. At Schloss Bellevue in Berlin, the Federal President presented Mr Weidmann with the certificate of appointment for his second term of office.

In their first-ever joint exhibition, the National Bank of Belgium and the Deutsche Bundesbank will put works from their respective art collections on public display. The exhibition “Building a Dialogue. Two Corporate Collections of Contemporary Art” shows works by 44 artists in total. The exhibition can be viewed in the renovated modernist counter hall of the National Bank of Belgium, located in the centre of Brussels.

Experts from the Bundesbank have criticised the common European budgetary rules and their implementation as becoming less and less comprehensible and predictable. They are calling for reforms to restrengthen the rules’ binding force.

NGFS calls for action by central banks, supervisors and all relevant stakeholders for greening the financial system.

Household net wealth in Germany increased significantly between 2014 and 2017. In particular, real estate owners benefited from rising prices in this context. The distribution of wealth remains unequal.

The German economy grew moderately in the first quarter of 2019. However, in the Bundesbank’s assessment, the still positive development was largely attributable to one-off effects. The Bundesbank's economists write that the already booming construction sector profited further from the favourable weather in February, for example.

Economic activity in Germany has slowed down significantly. Speaking on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank spring meeting in Washington, Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann noted that economic growth in 2019 will lag far behind potential output growth of 1.5%.

Bundesbank Executive Board member Joachim Wuermeling has noted that the Bank is neutral when it comes to bank mergers. “We may monitor such processes, but we certainly do not initiate them,” he announced at the Bundesbank’s 2019 banking symposium in Frankfurt am Main.