BaFin has issued a general administrative act regarding the domestic countercyclical capital buffer rate. The rate is to be raised from 0 percent to 0.25 percent as of 1 July 2019. This increase is a preventive measure intended to enhance the resilience of the banking system.

In view of Brexit and the associated market fragmentation, Bundesbank Executive Board member Joachim Wuermeling has spoken out in favour of stronger cooperation between the financial centres of the EU. In addition, he called for more effort to be channelled into the creation of a digital infrastructure in Europe.

Writing in its latest Monthly Report, the Bundesbank identifies a need to press ahead with the development of universal Europe-wide payment methods, ideally based on real-time (instant) payments. The challenge for European payment service providers, the Bank’s experts write, is to create effective pan-European payment solutions as an alternative to those offered by their increasingly successful global rivals.

The Bundesbank is exploring ways of integrating sustainability criteria into the portfolios it manages. “Central banks play a key role in Green Finance,” said Ms Mauderer during a speech in Frankfurt.

According to the Bundesbank’s current projection, economic activity in Germany will experience a marked slowdown. This is primarily due to the ongoing downturn in industry, which is suffering from weak growth in exports. However, the experts at the Bundesbank do not currently expect a significant, more persistent decline in economic output.

The Governing Council of the European Central Bank has decided to leave policy rates unchanged at 0.00%, 0.25% and -0.40%. Key ECB interest rates are to remain at their present levels at least through the first half of 2020, and in any case for as long as necessary, ECB President Mario Draghi explained.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann has drawn attention to the dangers of issuing digital central bank money, and urged caution. “Any introduction of central bank digital currencies needs to be carefully considered,” he commented at this year’s Bundesbank Payments Symposium in Frankfurt am Main.

The Bundesbank began issuing the new €100 and €200 banknotes on 28 May. They both incorporate two new and innovative security features, making them even more difficult to counterfeit, says Johannes Beermann, the Bundesbank’s Executive Board member responsible for cash management. The Europa series is thus complete.

Last year saw a worldwide fall in sales of passenger cars. According to the Bundesbank, a further decline seems likely for the current year. The Bundesbank Monthly Report for May states that this is due mainly to special developments regionally.

The German economy got off to a good start in 2019. Real gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2019 was up 0.4% on the quarter. However, one-off effects played an important role in this, as revealed by the Bundesbank’s latest Monthly Report.