Households’ real investment return recovered somewhat at the beginning of 2019, improving to a now only marginally negative rate of -0.1%. Viewed in isolation, historically low interest rates continued to depress income, but price gains in securities markets helped increase performance somewhat overall.

The ECB and the 21 central banks that are signatories of the fourth Central Bank Gold Agreement have decided not to extend the agreement. The first agreement was signed in 1999 with the aim of coordinating the gold sales planned by the central banks.

In the first half of 2019, the Bundesbank recorded approximately 27,600 counterfeit euro banknotes with a nominal value of €1.6 million. Thus, although the incidence of counterfeiting was up compared to the second half of 2018, it is still low overall.

Economic output in Germany is likely to have contracted slightly in the second quarter of 2019 compared with the beginning of the year. According to the current Monthly Report, this is due to the petering out of one-off effects, which had been major drivers of growth in the first quarter. In addition, the downturn in industry continued.

The emergence of new shadow sectors in the financial system through stablecoins must be prevented. This is what the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors have called for at their meeting in Chantilly, just outside of Paris.

In its Annual Economic Report, the Bank for International Settlements calls for structural reforms, fiscal policy and macroprudential measures to play a greater role in ensuring sustainable growth. The report states that “monetary policy cannot be the engine of economic growth”.

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.