year. 1 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches first off, though, a 100 - page historical booklet is being published today. this document provides a summary of the main research findings. unlike the individual volumes, which are more specifically aimed at an expert readership, we are hoping that this booklet will find a wider audience. 3 study topics the booklet outlines the role played by the reichsbank, inter alia, in financing armament prior to 1939, how, during world war ii, it helped to financially exploit the territories occupied by germany, and how it participated in the confiscation and processing of looted gold and other valuables. another major research topic was the continuity in terms of personnel and career paths post - 1945. back then, former employees of the reichsbank who had undergone denazification were hired into positions first at the bank deutscher lander and then at the bundesbank. needless to say, not all the findings are entirely new. time and again, historians have explored similar topics over the past decades. the bundesbank itself has looked to reflect critically on the past. these efforts have yielded numerous publications, exhibitions and conferences. what has been lacking so far, though, is a big picture of german central bank policy before, during and after world war ii. that's a picture we now have. and that's thanks to magnus brechtken, albrecht ritschl and their team of historians, who conducted many years of painstaking work in countless archives across europe to seek out and review source material and reassess it in the light of current research. 4 what comes next the completion of the study brings to a close a project that is of particular concern to the bundesbank's executive board and to me personally. what the team led by magnus brechtken and albrecht ritschl are making available to the general public and the international research community is a treasure trove of insights and findings. their work traces how central bankers became willing accessories to a criminal regime. and it shows how susceptible they were to racism, antisemitism and anti - democratic thinking. let this also be a warning to us : never again should there be antisemitism in germany. never again should minorities be excluded and subjected to state tyranny. never again should government bodies like the central bank be allowed to trample on democratic values. the next step is to help spread the findings of the study

diversification possibilities and facilitate financing for productive activities at a lower cost. lastly, in the longer term, it will also be important that the banking sector provides an appropriate response to the risks posed by climate change. included here are physical risks, associated with the materialisation of an effective worsening of climate conditions ( e. g. more frequent and longer - lasting droughts, greater likelihood of fires ), and transition risks, linked to the adoption of new regulations and taxes and to the transformation of the production process, aimed specifically at mitigating climate change. intervention by fiscal and environmental authorities is key to achieving an orderly and predictable energy transition. but it is also important that the banking sector allows the financial risks present in the different stages of this process to be duly reflected. we financial supervisors must ensure that banks indeed correctly assess the risks, and promote the development of appropriate reporting standards and databases to measure them. conclusions in view of the pandemic ’ s unprecedented economic impact, the spanish banking sector has emerged as a mitigant of the shock and is called upon to play a key role in financing the recovery. this has been possible for two reasons. first, the sector's healthier starting position, following its restructuring, and the prudential regulations adopted after the global financial crisis. second, the essential role played by the public support measures in mitigating the impact of the crisis on borrowers ’ credit quality, thus preventing a financial crisis component that would have made it deeper and longer - lasting. that said, the crisis has had an adverse and heterogeneous impact on the sector ’ s profitability, although solvency and default rates have not suffered to date thanks to the support measures adopted. in the future, given the uncertainties associated with the impact of the crisis on firms ’ and households ’ credit quality and with the repercussions of gradually withdrawing the support measures, we must be alert to indications of latent credit risk and ensure an appropriate and timely coverage of such risk, in keeping with supervisory guidance. ensuring suitable risk coverage, while maintaining a flexible prudential approach, may make it easier to prevent any undue contraction in credit that could hamper growth in the new phase of economic recovery that we are entering. the impact of the pandemic has exacerbated some of the pre - existing structural challenges faced by the banking sector. these notably include the challenges associated with the cost of capital exceeding profitability, digitalisation and climate risk management