Efficient and secure payment systems are the foundation of a stable financial system. The Bundesbank secures and monitors cashless payments in Germany as a financial centre, provides settlement and clearing services and plays an active role in the further development of the single European payment system.

The risks to the German financial system have increased, as reported in the Bundesbank’s latest Financial Stability Review. The German economy is faced with structural challenges, and the high valuations in equity and bond markets pose the risk of larger, sudden market price corrections, Bundesbank Executive Board member Michael Theurer said at the presentation of the Financial Stability Review in Frankfurt.

According to the Federal Statistical Office’s flash estimate, seasonally adjusted real gross domestic product (GDP) recorded a quarter-on-quarter decline of 0.1 % in the second quarter, after still rising markedly in the previous two quarters. The Monthly Report states that after US tariffs were raised in April, industrial output and exports recorded a fall-off. While private consumption benefited from a sharp rise in wages, the labour market remained too weak to generate stronger momentum. The inflation rate fell distinctly in the second quarter.

Britta Weinmann is the Bundesbank’s new representative at the German embassy in Moscow. Ms Weinmann, who worked in banking supervision at the Bank’s Regional Office in Hesse prior to this, took over her new role on 1 August from Sven Redel

The same methodology as the real effective exchange rates of the euro is used to calculate price competitiveness indicators for individual euro area countries. 

After a break of three years, the bilateral meeting, the 16th of its kind, took place with colleagues from the Bank of Korea in Frankfurt on 3 and 4 November 2022.