In a piece for the Financial Times, Executive Board member Michael Theurer has addressed the issue of the sovereign-bank nexus. This close link between banks and their home-country sovereign debt represents a significant threat to financial stability in the euro area. Breaking this cycle is crucial to safeguarding the stability of the euro area financial system, Theurer emphasises.

According to the latest Monthly Report, the number of banks in the euro area has roughly halved since 2002. Large financial institutions have become even larger, and the market has become more concentrated. New data now show that the impact of monetary policy on lending rates for enterprises has thus far not been weakened by the structural change in the banking market, the Bundesbank’s experts write.

The German economy will make headway again in 2026: while progress will be subdued initially, it will then slowly pick up, said Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel, presenting the Bundesbank’s new Forecast for Germany. According to the forecast, economic growth is being driven mainly by government spending and a resurgence in exports. The experts are expecting GDP growth in 2027 and 2028 as well.

Card payments are now the predominant form of electronic payment in Germany, as highlighted in the Bundesbank’s latest Monthly Report. The main driving forces behind the increased usage of cards as a means of payment have been the introduction of contactless technologies as well as changes in consumer behaviour as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the Monthly Report, the authors analyse current developments in the card market in Germany as well as other trends such as instant payments and mobile payments.