jens weidmann : the german economy – dealing with structural shifts speech by dr jens weidmann, president of the deutsche bundesbank, at the hail and farewell ceremony at the regional office in north rhine - westphalia, dusseldorf, 25 september 2013. * 1. * * economic policy challenges facing germany when asked recently whether or not it was possible to slowly but surely wrap up the topic of structural reform, the president of the bundesbank ’ s regional office in north rhinewestphalia replied, “ we ’ re not done yet. ” one such item of unfinished business for the bundesbank in north rhine - westphalia is the building of the new superbranch in dortmund, which, as the largest branch in germany, will take over cash operations from five other branches in north rhine - westphalia. “ we ’ re not done yet ” – let me take up this slogan and refer it to the german economy. on the surface, the situation is quite pleasing : germany ’ s economy is in infinitely better shape than just ten years ago, when germany was regarded by many as “ the sick man of europe ”. germany came through the crisis better than other countries : whereas real german gdp in the last quarter was 2¼ % above its pre - crisis level, it was only ¼ % higher in france, and in italy and spain, it was even just under 9 % and 7½ % below pre - crisis levels respectively. and this is despite the fact that, in 2009, germany ’ s gdp dropped by over 5 %, one of the most severe slumps among the major advanced economies. and it is precisely this experience and the evidence it provides of the success of earlier reforms as well as of the employment - oriented cooperation between the social partners which has made germany a model for many abroad – a model whose competitiveness is so high that some even see it as part of the problem. to be sure, central bankers do have the reputation of regularly pouring water into the wine whenever the economic situation puts policymakers and the public in a partying mood. i do believe, though, that there are good reasons for a more level - headed assessment – especially when looking through the cycles as perceived by the public and reported on in the news and seeing some years into the future. advancing globalisation, shifts in energy policy, high government debt and aging societies will also – or even specifically – present challenges to germany – even if the current crisis and its burdens are overcome rapidly. let us look

burkhard balz : opportunities and risks of central bank digital currencies keynote speech by mr burkhard balz, member of the executive board of the deutsche bundesbank, at the virtual european payments conference “ key trends in the european payments landscape ”, virtual event, 17 june 2021. * * * 1 introduction ladies and gentlemen, mr maleki, mr bott, thank you for your warm welcome, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to deliver a keynote speech at today ’ s conference. the euro football tournament kicked off recently, but things are rather different this year. there will be fewer gatherings in person and no “ public viewings ”, as we say in germany, with thousands of fans. instead, i have already heard about public viewings taking place in the digital sphere, with fans using virtual conference software to get together and cheer on their favourite team. fortunately, the games themselves are taking place in real life – with a considerable number of fans in the stadium – and not virtually. the same still cannot be said for most meetings in the business world. therefore, i am also speaking to you in a virtual, digital format today. however, digitalisation has also found its way into football, with teams using the likes of big data analytics to improve their performance. and we all know that money plays an important role in football business as well. so there is some common ground with the topic of our panel discussion and my keynote today : it is about rapid change, digitalisation and digital money, and central bank digital currencies in particular. cbdcs are one of the most exciting developments facing central banks today – not just in europe, but worldwide. many questions need to be answered. let me name just three of them : what opportunities are associated with cbdc? is there a need for banknotes to go digital? what features would cater to the demands of consumers and enterprises in both the financial and the industrial sector? maybe today ’ s conference can shed some more light on the different components of these important questions. market experts in europe and around the world are engaged in a lively debate about these questions, and several central banks are looking into the opportunities and risks associated with central bank digital currencies. a survey among central banks by the bank for international settlements ( bis ) shows a shift away from mainly analytical work on cbdc towards technical experimentation, with more than 60 % of central banks reporting that they are running practical experiments. 1 1 / 4