Germany
Bundesbank paper: German banks use specific loan loss provisions counter-cyclically
Banks increase level of loan loss provisions during upswings and decrease them during downturns, authors find; contrasts with results from other countries
Legal opinion opens door for ECB bond-buying programme
Adviser to ECJ deems OMTs ‘compatible’ with European law in a move described as an ‘overwhelming success’ for ECB; could nonetheless restrict central bank's role in Troika
German investments would generate ‘beneficial' regional spillovers, finds IMF paper
The expansionary effect of higher public investment in Germany ‘substantially strengthened' when supported by an accommodative monetary policy stance, according to working paper
Bundesbank’s Nagel wants Frankfurt clearing house
Executive board member details benefits to German economy from having an RMB clearing bank, and sets out plans to form a clearing house in the future
Buba’s Dombret leads calls to focus on bank profitability
Andreas Dombret says German banks may be resilient, but they are not competitive; commentators at leading accountancies stress the need to focus on profitability
European Court of Justice hears case against OMTs
European Central Bank’s programme for buying sovereign debt to be considered by Europe's top court; ruling could have implications for monetary policy
Dombret calls on German banks to ‘embrace new risk culture’
Bundesbank executive board member sets out four criteria for assessing the ‘soundness’ of banks’ risk culture, including the ‘tone from the top’
European economists analyse global value chains
Bank of Portugal working paper analyses the global value chains in the eurozone and underlines the core role of Germany in production linkages
Finland paper: German minimum wage could be ‘too high’
Germany’s forthcoming minimum wage ‘could potentially be too high’ and lead to employment losses, especially in the east of the country, research finds
Negative Eonia rate causes CSA headaches
Eonia's move into the negative means parties posting variation margin must also pay interest to their counterparties, which has led to calls for clarity from dealers – especially for one-way CSAs
One in 10 eurozone households spend more than they earn, Bundesbank paper finds
Households with female, young, or divorced heads have harder time making ends meet, but ‘rather confident in the possibility to get funded through informal lending channels'
Germany finds Emir enforcement fix for OTC derivatives
Derivatives users in Germany face Emir compliance audit - but enforcement in other EU countries may be impossible, lawyers say
Twenty-five defining moments
Central Banking identifies 25 of the most significant events to have shaped the official sector during the past 25 years.
ECB data stolen in blackmail attempt
Hackers raid ECB database that contains around 20,000 email addresses of people who have registered for its events; security breach did not impact internal systems
ECB's Cœuré says German lowflation threatens to trigger eurozone ‘race to the bottom'
Executive board member argues bank's June measures were necessary as Germany plays a 'benchmark role for peripheral countries in correcting their imbalances'
ECB's Mario Draghi faces ongoing German ‘angst’
ECB president to face further German resistance on interest rates, banking union and OMTs – with Germany’s constitutional court ruling likely more problematic than some observers believe.
Big eurozone economies dragged each other down during eurozone crisis
Sovereign CDS in Spain and Italy showed ‘notable co-dependence' in 2009–12 and also explained much of the widening in Germany's spreads, IMF paper says
German court rejects challenge to ESM legality
Constitutional court backs Germany’s participation in European Stability Mechanism; Basel Committee rules that banks do not have to hold capital against ESM bonds
Robert Pringle's Viewpoint: The eurozone’s unfinished business
Economic adjustment and financial sector reform must go hand in hand – with the ECB due to play a central role
German debt office poised to collateralise swaps
Pending 2014 budget would allow Finanzagentur to post up to €8 billion in collateral
Dutch paper finds Germans ‘substantially more cash oriented’ than other nationalities
Researchers consider why cash is still ‘heavily used’ for low-value payments in Europe; attributes German consumers' continued use of cash to ‘precautionary’ reasons
Bundesbank paper finds benefits in concentrated bank lending
Researchers find that banks with more concentrated credit portfolios have lower expected write-offs and unexpected risk than their counterparts
ECB's Cœuré says euro members 'not strong enough to survive on their own'
Executive board member urges return to 'original vision'; says banking union 'not achieved by mutualising risks' and calls for increased German consumption
Bundesbank’s Dombret defends Germany’s current account surplus
Andreas Dombret says the strength of German households, businesses and public sector is a stabilising factor for the eurozone as a whole; calls for acceptance of the structural differences between economies