The Deutsche Bundesbank posted its first-ever representative to South Africa at the country's German Embassy on 1 August 2016 with a view to deepening the bank's cooperation with the G20 emerging market economy.

The financial assets of households in Germany stood at €5,875 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2018. Compared with the fourth quarter of 2017, this represents just a moderate increase of €14 billion, or 0.2%. In the first quarter, claims on insurance corporations grew in particular (€22 billion), followed by currency and deposits, which saw inflows totalling just under €15 billion.

Economic output in Germany stagnated in the second quarter of 2022. Although the services providers which had been constrained during the pandemic received a boost, high price increases and uncertainty in connection with the war in Ukraine weighed on households and enterprises, according to the Bundesbank’s latest Monthly Report. In addition, the unfavourable developments on the gas market are clouding the future outlook and, according to the Bundesbank, are increasing the likelihood of a decline in gross domestic product in the fourth quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023.

Bundesbank Executive Board member Joachim Wuermeling sees digital financial and money functions pursued by initiatives ranging from clouds to Libra as a major challenge facing European banking supervisors. At an event in Frankfurt, Wuermeling stated that “if risk-relevant links in the financial value chain evade supervision, for credit institutions, it’s a matter of a level playing field, but for us as supervisors it’s a question of financial stability.”

The German current account recorded a surplus of €20.8 billion in February 2022, up €8.4 billion on the previous month’s level. This was mainly attributable to an increase in the goods account surplus. Conversely, the surplus in invisible current transactions, which comprise services as well as primary and secondary income, contracted slightly.