The Bundesbank has three autonomous representative offices in New York, Tokyo and Brussels as well as numerous representatives posted at German embassies and Consulates General in major financial centres.

The Bundesbank’s representative offices in New York, Tokyo and Brussels

Since 1986, the Bundesbank has had two autonomous representative offices – in other words independent of the respective German diplomatic missions – in New York and Tokyo. In 2023, it opened a third representative office in Brussels. The main task of the Bundesbank employees working at the representative offices is to report on economic developments and the financial system in their particular region. The Representative Office in New York is responsible for the United States, Canada and Mexico, while the Representative Office in Tokyo covers Japan, Korea and Australia. The Brussels Representative Office in the House of the Euro has been tasked with increasing the Bundesbank’s contribution of expertise in discussions and decision-making processes at the European level. It is crucial for employees representing the Bundesbank abroad to establish and maintain contact with experts from major institutions in the financial sector. Through in-person discussions and presentations, these Bundesbank employees provide information on economic developments in Germany and the euro area as well as the Bundesbank’s take on monetary policy and economic topics, thus acting as the Bundesbank's voice in the region. For several years now, trading activities that are important for managing German foreign reserves have been conducted in the representative offices in New York and Tokyo.

Bundesbank representatives in a further eleven countries

The creation of the Eurosystem as well as international cooperation in the context of the G20 and the Financial Stability Board require the Bundesbank to have an extensive and well-functioning network of representatives. Besides macroeconomic aspects, microprudential and macroprudential topics, too, are becoming more and more relevant to the work of central banks; at the same time, the importance of emerging economies for the global economy is growing. The Bundesbank is represented in Beijing, Istanbul, London, Madrid, Mumbai, Paris, Pretoria, Rome, Riga, São Paulo and Singapore.  

The main task of a Bundesbank representative is to monitor and analyse the financial system. This includes identifying a looming financial crisis before it unfolds. Given how closely interconnected our economies are, even small, unsound developments which initially impact only the local economy may have sweeping repercussions for another country’s financial system and sometimes even for the global economy. A key lesson from the global financial crisis is that isolated national efforts are not sufficient to safeguard the stability of our financial system. With its network, the Bundesbank intends to keep track of virtually all countries, either directly or indirectly. For instance, the Bank’s representative in São Paulo keeps an eye on all the South American countries, while its representative in Singapore monitors all of South-East Asia. Moreover, the employees representing the Bundesbank abroad promote an exchange of knowledge in addition to establishing and maintaining a valuable personal network with central banks, financial authorities, supervisory authorities, banks and other institutions.