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.

The Monthly Report November 2017 comments on the economic situation in Germany in autumn 2017.

The Bundesbank has achieved a surplus of 1 billion euros in 2016. This is 2.2 billion euros less than in the previous year. Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann justified this at the annual press conference with increased risk provisions.

The October 2017 Monthly Report analyses emerging market economies’ global liquidity, foreign reserves and exchange rates and contains an article on developments in the natural interest rate. In addition, the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process for smaller institutions and proportionality considerations are described, and the initial results of the new money market statistics as well as the new insurance statistics are presented.

Money, whether in the form of banknotes, coins, or digital credits in our bank accounts, is at the heart of nearly everything we do in modern life. But we rarely give it any sustained thought. What, after all, is money, really? How does it work? Where does it come from? Who controls the banks? How does monetary policy work, and what roles do central banks play in its use?

The September 2017 Monthly Report contains an article on monetary policy indicators at the zero lower bound on the basis of term structure models, and an analysis of the performance of German credit institutions in 2016. Explanations are also provided on the potential and risks of distributed ledger technologies in payments and securities settlement and on the changes and results in the process of extending the investment fund statistics.

The August 2017 Monthly Report comments on the economic situation in Germany in summer 2017.

The July 2017 edition of the Monthly Report describes the market for bonds issued by non-financial corporations in the low-interest-rate environment and developments in government interest expenditure in Germany and other euro area countries. It also contains articles on private interest income developments, taking into account inflation and taxes, as well as on the threats to the global economy posed by protectionist tendencies. Finally, the report also introduces the latest innovations in the monetary financial institutions’ (MFI) interest rate statistics.

Zeitzeugen (Living Witnesses) is an entertaining book that transports the reader back to various eras of numismatic history and boasts captivating images of historical coins. Over the course of thirty richly illustrated chapters, Zeitzeugen recounts episodes from various points in two-and-a-half thousand years of historical coinage.