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.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann says that non-standard monetary policy measures can have a variety of effects on income and wealth distribution. “Much like conventional interest rate policy, the non-standard measures are more likely to have reduced income inequality,” he said in a speech in Hamburg.

Bundesbank Executive Board member Burkhard Balz says that more needs to be done to build confidence in blockchain networks. Permissioned networks might be one way forward, he explained at an event in Frankfurt am Main.

Diana Rutzka-Hascher, previously President of the Bundesbank’s Regional Office in Hesse, is now head of the Bank's Directorate General Human Resources at Central Office, while HR chief Thomas Ollinger has taken her position as the new President of the Regional Office. Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann congratulated the two officials at a function in Frankfurt am Main attended by around 170 invited guests.

Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier has appointed Jens Weidmann President of the Bundesbank for another eight years, with effect from 1 May. At Schloss Bellevue in Berlin, the Federal President presented Mr Weidmann with the certificate of appointment for his second term of office.

In their first-ever joint exhibition, the National Bank of Belgium and the Deutsche Bundesbank will put works from their respective art collections on public display. The exhibition “Building a Dialogue. Two Corporate Collections of Contemporary Art” shows works by 44 artists in total. The exhibition can be viewed in the renovated modernist counter hall of the National Bank of Belgium, located in the centre of Brussels.