joachim nagel : central bank money in the 21st century speech by dr joachim nagel, president of the deutsche bundesbank, at the dz bank capital markets conference 2024, berlin, 24 april 2024. * * * check against delivery 1 introduction good morning everybody, it is my pleasure to open the third day of this year's dz bank capital markets conference. especially as the conference venue is located in the heart of the german capital. the pariser platz has a mixed history. originally built on the outskirts of the city, it became one of the grandest squares in berlin, surrounded by important embassies and the finest hotel in town. later, it was almost completely destroyed during wwii, and following the construction of the berlin wall, it became part of the " death strip " that divided the city. in 1998, it was again filled with traffic before being converted into a pedestrian zone in 2002. thus, it is a symbol of transformation. and this is a good keyword for the topic of my talk today. however, i do not wish to talk about urban transformation, but about the transformation in payments and the central bank's response. when the brandenburg gate was opened to cars in 1998, the payments landscape looked pretty different than today. cash was king, one could say, and e - commerce was only in its infancy. today, banknotes and coins are still the preferred means of payment at the point of sale. but the share of cash payments in retail turnover has roughly halved. in return, cashless payment methods have become increasingly important – a trend that is likely to continue. and a number of new digital payment solutions have been introduced. the digital euro project aims to introduce a central bank digital currency ( cbdc ) for everyone. before i argue in more detail why i consider the step into the digital sphere useful and necessary for our central bank money, allow me to make a few comments on current monetary policy. i think this might also interest some of you. 2 remarks on current monetary policy 1 / 6 bis - central bankers'speeches the eurosystem's response to the recent inflation surge was forceful and decisive. starting in july 2022, we raised our key interest rates in ten consecutive steps by a total of 450 basis points. moreover, we stopped purchasing assets and started to shrink our balance sheet. the good news is that inflation has fallen significantly. from double - digit figures in the autumn of 2022 to 2. 4

andreas dombret : crisis management in the euro area and challenges ahead speech by dr andreas dombret, member of the executive board of the deutsche bundesbank, at the danish economic association, copenhagen, 8 may 2014. * 1. * * introduction ladies and gentlemen thank you for inviting me to speak at the danish economic association today, and many thanks to governor per callesen from nationalbanken for making this possible. it is a pleasure to be here. you should know that the nationalbanken and the bundesbank have been working closely together for many years now and that we share many views. so let me take the opportunity to thank per and his colleagues for many years of fruitful exchange. i would also like to use this occasion to say how impressed i am with the danish – or rather nordic – model of combining economic flexibility with social security. in my view, this model strikes a balance which could serve as a blueprint for other european countries as well. thus, from a structural point of view, denmark seems to be closer to the vision held by john maynard keynes. he said : “ the day is not far off when the economic problem will take the back seat where it belongs, and the arena of the heart and the head will be occupied or reoccupied, by our real problems – the problems of life and of human relations, of creation and behaviour and religion. ” and denmark has a number of great thinkers who busied themselves with what keynes calls the “ real problems ”. one of these thinkers is soeren kierkegaard. and he said : “ life can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forwards ”. of course, today i am not going to philosophise about life because, unfortunately, europe still faces some economic problems. nevertheless, i will apply kierkegaard ’ s principle to the subject of today ’ s speech : the european sovereign debt crisis. when endeavouring to understand the origins of the crisis, we have no choice but to look backwards. yet, our policies need to be forward looking. thus, i will talk about both how the crisis emerged and the challenges that lie ahead. there is, however, one part of the picture that i will have to leave out : the current economic situation in europe. why is that? well, on thursday the governing council of the ecb will meet to take interest rate decisions. a gentlemen ’ s agreement among european central bankers compels us