Ladies and gentlemen,
Together with my colleague, Joachim Wuermeling, I wish to warmly welcome you to the presentation of the Bundesbank's Financial Stability Review this year.
At first glance, the key messages in this report might look a lot like those from last year: the German financial system is vulnerable to macroeconomic risks, and sufficient resilience is needed to preserve the stability of the system.
But there have been decisive changes, too.
First, the macro-financial environment has deteriorated substantially. One year ago, we were expecting the economy to experience a robust upturn. Interest rates and inflation were low. Today, risks to the real economy and inflation have increased significantly. Vulnerabilities can become injuries that can be healed only with some difficulty later on.