Given the upbeat prospects for the economy as a whole, there is little risk to the stability of the German financial system at present. Yet with interest rates sitting at low levels for years now and the economy in such robust shape, there is a danger that market participants might underestimate the risks to financial stability, the Bundesbank cautions.

Bundesbank Executive Board member Andreas Dombret takes a positive view of the latest reforms in banking regulation. Speaking at an event in Frankfurt am Main, he noted that an effective and, at the same time, balanced path had been taken. He reminded the audience that the agreed reforms now need to be rigorously implemented.

Executive Board member Carl-Ludwig Thiele hailed the success of the TARGET2 payment system as he marked ten years since its launch.

At a two-day research conference hosted by the Bundesbank, the Halle Institute for Economic Research and the Centre for Economic Policy Research, academics discussed the opportunities and challenges that regulatory reforms and new technologies present for the future of financial intermediation.

The exhibition "Geldmacher" (Money maker) is open to visitors to the Money Museum until 25 February 2018. No fewer than 300,000 banknotes printed by Frankfurt artist Michael Riedel are on display. This is the first time an exhibition organised by the Bundesbank has been made accessible to the general public.

Brisk industrial activity kept Germany’s economy on a strongly expansionary path in the third quarter of 2017, and growth looks set to remain buoyant in the fourth quarter. The Bundesbank’s experts, writing in the latest Monthly Report, put this assessment down to the record-high sentiment in trade and industry, the excellent order situation in industry, and what remains a high level of consumer confidence.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann supports the European Central Bank’s plans to reduce non-performing loans, as they weigh on financing conditions and, ultimately, growth prospects in the member states concerned. Rules need to be established that ensure the prudent management of non-performing loans in the future, said Weidmann in Frankfurt am Main.

The Eurosystem should not maintain its current accommodative monetary policy stance indefinitely, Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann says. Speaking at an event in Leipzig, he said it is legitimate to ask whether it would not have been better to set a clear end-date for the recently extended asset purchase programme.

Bundesbank Vice-President Claudia Buch has spoken out regarding the financial market reforms that were initiated in the wake of the financial crisis and the need to assess their long-term effects on the economy as a whole. Professor Buch gave a presentation on financial stability in Munich to mark the Bundesbank’s 60th anniversary.

By 2025, the Bundesbank aims to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with its use of resources by 25 per cent. The latest environmental report shows how the Bank has once again moved a step closer to achieving its goal.