Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann and Executive Board member Sabine Mauderer say that central banks do have a part to play in forging a more sustainable financial system. But speaking at a conference in Frankfurt am Main, they both warned against overburdening monetary policymakers with climate policy objectives.

Demographic change in Germany is exerting increasing pressure on the German pension system. It would seem reasonable not to concentrate the resulting burdens on individual variables of the pension insurance system and also to adjust the retirement age in line with rising life expectancy, write the Bundesbank’s economists in the current Monthly Report.

Economic output in Germany could have contracted again slightly in the third quarter of 2019 compared with the second quarter. According to the Bundesbank’s latest Monthly Report, this is due to continued weakness in export-based industry. By contrast, the domestic economy continued to provide impetus.

Sustainability criteria are playing an increasingly important role in central banks’ portfolio management activities. This is one of the findings in a new investment guide published by the Network for Greening the Financial System, which Bundesbank Executive Board member Sabine Mauderer unveiled at the IMF Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Eugen Töws is the new Bundesbank representative in Pretoria (South Africa). He succeeded Jenny Kilp on 1 August. Töws had previously worked in the Bundesbank’s Directorate General Banking and Financial Supervision.

Britta Weinmann is the Bundesbank’s new representative at the German embassy in Moscow. Ms Weinmann, who previously worked in banking supervision at the Bundesbank’s Regional Office in Hesse, took over the role based in Russia’s capital city from Sven Redel on 1 August.

On 2 October 2019, the European Central Bank started publishing the euro short-term rate (€STR). The €STR complements existing private sector reference rates and is also recommended as the new overnight reference rate for the euro area.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann paid tribute to the outgoing Governor of Austria’s central bank, Ewald Nowotny. In a speech held in Vienna, Mr Weidmann said that “what the Governing Council needs is experience and independence of judgement, and that is something Ewald Nowotny has always supplied in abundance.”

Germany’s external assets grew again in 2018, standing at €2,073 billion at the end of the year. This represents an increase of €281 billion on the year.

Patricia Staab will assume her post as the new President of the Bundesbank’s Regional Office in Baden-Württemberg with effect from 1 October 2019. She will succeed Bernhard Sibold, who will be retiring after a 39-year career at the Bundesbank. At a handover ceremony in Stuttgart, she was congratulated by Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann, who took the opportunity to address the current decision by the Governing Council of the ECB.