This year, the Deutsche Bundesbank will be celebrating its 60th anniversary. The legislation which brought it into being, the Bundesbank Act (Gesetz über die Deutsche Bundesbank), was signed into law on 26 July 1957 by the Federal President. When the Bundesbank Act entered into force on 1 August 1957, the Bundesbank took up its work as an independent monetary policy institution and kept the D-Mark stable for four decades. Since the introduction of the euro, the Bundesbank, as an integral part of the Eurosystem, has been making a key contribution to the stability of the single currency. As a member of the ECB Governing Council, the President of the Bundesbank is involved in monetary policy decisions. The primary objective of monetary policy is to maintain price stability. "Our principal task is to safeguard the value of our currency. To accomplish this, we need the confidence and the support of the public," said Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann at the beginning of the anniversary year.

The Bundesbank performs other key tasks at both the national and international level which go above and beyond monetary policy. To maintain investor confidence and prevent unsound developments in the banking industry, the Bundesbank supervises credit institutions and financial services institutions in Germany and is a participant in the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) for banks in Europe. In addition, it analyses the stability of the financial and monetary system as a whole. Through its branch network, the Bundesbank constantly supplies shops and banks in Germany with sufficient high-quality euro banknotes and coins. Moreover, it ensures the smooth settlement of domestic and cross-border cashless payments, and also manages the gold reserves.

Events during the anniversary year

Over the course of the year, the Bundesbank will be commemorating its anniversary with a variety of events. It will be opening its doors to the public, with open days in July 2017 at Central Office and the Regional Office in Hesse in Frankfurt am Main and in September 2017 at its offices in Hanover, Berlin and Coblenz. At the "Forum Bundesbank", a series of talks hosted by the Bundesbank's Regional Offices in various cities in Germany, speakers will look back at events which shaped the history of the Bundesbank. This will be complemented by a travelling exhibition on monetary history from the D-Mark's beginnings to the euro's present. The Bundesbank will provide timely information on these events on its website.

New publication, press information, "60 Jahre Deutsche Bundesbank" website

At the beginning of the anniversary year, the Bundesbank will publish "Die Deutsche Bundesbank – Notenbank für Deutschland", which provides a synopsis of the history of German central banking and explains the Bundesbank's myriad tasks and its legal foundations. The book can either be ordered as a hard copy or downloaded. In addition, press information on the topic of "60 Jahre Deutsche Bundesbank" will be posted under the "Press" tab; among other things, this will include information about the legal framework, quotations from Bundesbank Presidents past and present and a collection of interesting and unexpected facts about the Bundesbank. On its anniversary website, the Bundesbank will publish articles, pictures and videos about how it came into being, its history, and some of the personalities who shaped the central bank's work.

To find out more about the Bundesbank's 60th anniversary celebrations, please visit the following links (available in German only):