was the importance of breaking the link between bank risk and sovereign risk. the topic is extremely senstive politically, but it is pivotal for the stabilty of the euro area. the same goes for the common deposit guarantee scheme. that is why i was delighted about the initiative taken by finance minister olaf scholz, who intends to address these topics to deepen the banking union. the political problem has to be resolved by politicians. but they ’ re not resolving it, unfortunately. many do not seem to be fully aware of the urgency of completing the banking union. the aim must be to design the instruments in such a way that they stabilise the euro area without creating wrong incentives. that is the only way to succeed in completing banking union. do you understand this to include the option of allowing individual countries to go bankrupt? if we take the no bail - out clause in the european treaties seriously, it must be feasible to restructure government debt in an emergency situation. but that should not be to the detriment of the whole financial system. an orderly restructuring can only be a credible measure if it does not endanger the banking system. wouldn ’ t it be much more helpful to the banks for the ecb to finally do away with the penalty interest rates? these are mainly causing trouble for financial institutions. banks themselves are primarily responsible for their weak profitability. many banks were not very cost - efficient even before the financial crisis. they need now to consider what they can do to make themselves more efficient and remain competitive, whether that is through mergers or other means. the recently introduced tiering system, which exempts a significant portion of banks ’ deposits from the negative interest rate, is providing considerable relief for banks. and the ecb ’ s monetary policy has not only had negative consequences for banks ’ profits. positive economic developments mean that there have been fewer credit defaults and lower levels of loan - loss provisions. 2 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches instead of constantly complaining to the ecb about low interest rates, it would be better to ask politicians to implement measures that would push up long - term growth. the ecb is the wrong addressee of such complaints. but wasn ’ t it the ecb that, in the early 2000s, kept interest rates too low once before and thus caused an artificial boom followed by a crisis in the southern part of the euro area? i don ’ t share that assessment. the causes of the crisis differed greatly from country to country

economic growth would have been considerably slower, inflation would have been lower and unemployment higher. the one - sided, negative presentation of the consequences of the ecb ’ s policies is misleading. all in all, germany has benefited from the ecb ’ s monetary policy. you are saying that savers are not being expropriated at all. but the ecb ’ s negative interest rate policy effectively means that we can forget about traditional forms of investment such as savings accounts or life insurance policies. at the same time, people are being advised to provide for their retirement. how are they supposed to do that? if the ecb were to increase interest rates in the current environment, it would be harmful for everyone – not least for savers. i can ’ t give people any investment tips. but there ’ s no doubt that, in today ’ s interest rate environment, it is not especially advisable to put all your funds in savings or time deposit accounts. politicians also have a duty to inform citizens about the alternatives to 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches interest rate products. what do you think of german finance minister olaf scholz ’ plans to introduce a tax on share transactions? this measure is mainly politically motivated. from a economic point of view, i see it rather critically. however, the plan is on such a small scale that it will not really change the financial world. another major criticism is that the ecb ’ s policy has created a situation in which weak firms are being kept alive like zombies thanks to low interest rates. do you feel that you are unjustly coming under attack on this point too? the share of unprofitable firms has actually declined over the past few years. that runs counter to the theory of “ zombification ”. all the same, concerns about this issue highlight the need to aspire to sound regulation of the banking sector. weak banks are more likely to extend loans to weak firms. thanks to pressure from ecb banking supervision, the share of non - performing loans on banks ’ balance sheets has fallen sharply. that is an important step in the right direction. you have spoken in favour of tighter regulations governing sovereign bonds held on banks ’ balance sheets. the initiative appears to have foundered on italy. the fact that banks hold sovereign bonds is not the problem, it ’ s rather the concentration of their domestic sovereign bonds. italian banks primarily hold italian government bonds, german banks hold german bonds. one lesson from the euro debt crisis