The Deutsche Bundesbank has today posted the Financial Soundness Indicators (FSI) for Germany on its website. These indicators provide a more precise picture of the strengths and weaknesses of national financial systems. They are the result of a pilot study initiated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in response to the financial crises of the 1990s. Around 60 IMF member countries have developed a uniform set of indicators for assessing the stability of their countries’ financial systems; the results capture the position at the end of 2005. The Bundesbank is making several of the 38 indicators available for the first time ever; examples include indicators of non-performing loans and the banking sector’s liquid assets. In summer 2007, the Executive Board of the IMF will decide whether the indicators should be published regularly in future.

More detailed information on the FSI project and use of the indicators can be found in the Deutsche Bundesbank’s Financial Stability Review of November 2006.