Tables

Abbreviations and symbols

.      Figure not meaningful
0     Less than 0.5 but more than nil
-      Nil

Discrepancies in the totals are due to rounding. 

Frankfurt am Main, 17 February 2026

DEUTSCHE BUNDESBANK

Executive Board

Professor Joachim Nagel          Dr Sabine Mauderer

Burkhard Balz          Professor Fritzi Köhler-Geib          Lutz Lienenkämper 

Michael Theurer

Sections 26 and 27 of the Bundesbank Act (Gesetz über die Deutsche Bundesbank) form the legal basis for the annual accounts and distribution of profit. According to the provisions on accounting laid down in Section 26(2) sentence 2 of the Bundesbank Act, the annual accounts shall be drawn up with due regard to the tasks of the Deutsche Bundesbank, in particular those deriving from its being an integral part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), and shall be published with appropriate notes thereon. Consistent with this, the Bundesbank is allowed to apply the ECB’s accounting policies.

The Governing Council of the ECB adopted policies for the ECB’s annual accounts in accordance with Article 26.2 of the Statute of the ESCB. The Bundesbank decided to adopt these policies as its own accounting policies. 1  An overview of the Deutsche Bundesbank’s accounting policies can be found in the above supplementary information. The annual accounts of the Bundesbank thus follow the harmonised accounting and financial reporting rules of Eurosystem operations, both in terms of the structure of the balance sheet and the profit and loss account, and with regard to the valuation and accounting policies applied.

The Bundesbank is furthermore required, pursuant to Section 26(4) sentence 1 of the Bundesbank Act, to prepare a cost account to assist it in its management and administrative tasks. In compliance with this legislation, the Bank draws up a standard cost account and an investment plan before the start of each financial year. The harmonised Eurosystem accounting policies for internal accounting adopted by the Governing Council of the ECB and compiled in the Committee on Controlling (COMCO) manual are also taken into account in this regard. At the end of the financial year, the Bank makes a comparative analysis of the budgeted figures and the actual costs and investment. This analysis is reviewed separately by the external auditors.

Pursuant to Section 253 of the German Commercial Code (Handelsgesetzbuch), provisions for post-employment benefit obligations must be discounted at the average market rate corresponding to their residual maturity calculated over the past ten financial years (see liability sub-item 12.2 “Other provisions”). The relief resulting from application of the ten-year rather than the seven-year observation period must be calculated annually and may not be distributed. In accordance with Section 253(6) sentence 2 of the Commercial Code, the distribution of profits shall be restricted to the part that exceeds the amount for which distribution is restricted less any disposable reserves. However, the Bundesbank does not have any such reserves. The amount for which distribution is restricted itself has to be treated as reserves, and transfers to them and withdrawals from them are taken to profit and loss once the profit or loss for the year has been determined as part of the appropriation of profit (see liability item 14 “Capital and reserves” and profit and loss item 13 “Allocation to/withdrawal from reserves”). The reserves owing to the restriction on distribution were released in full in the annual accounts 2024 in order to reduce the loss for the year.

The ECB and the national central banks of the euro area countries, which together comprise the Eurosystem, issue banknotes denominated in euro. The following allocation procedure 2 was approved for recognition of the euro banknotes in circulation in the financial statements of the individual central banks of the Eurosystem. The respective share of the total value of euro banknotes in circulation due to each central bank in the Eurosystem is calculated on the last business day of each month in accordance with the key for allocating euro banknotes. The ECB is allocated an 8 % share of the total value of the euro banknotes in circulation, whereas the remaining 92 % is allocated to the national central banks in proportion to their respective paid-up shares in the capital of the ECB. As at 31 December 2025, the Bundesbank had a 26.6 % share in the fully paid-up capital of the ECB and, therefore, a 24.5 % share of the euro banknotes in circulation in accordance with the banknote allocation key. The value of the Bundesbank’s share in the total amount of euro banknotes issued by the Eurosystem is shown in item 1 “Banknotes in circulation” on the liabilities side of the balance sheet.

The difference between the value of the euro banknotes allocated to each central bank of the Eurosystem in accordance with the banknote allocation key and the value of the euro banknotes that the central bank actually puts into circulation gives rise to remunerated intra-Eurosystem balances. 3 If the value of the euro banknotes actually issued is greater than the value according to the banknote allocation key, the difference is recorded on the balance sheet as an intra-Eurosystem liability in liability sub-item 9.2 “Net liabilities related to the allocation of euro banknotes within the Eurosystem”. If the value of the euro banknotes actually issued is less than the value according to the banknote allocation key, the difference is recorded in asset sub-item 9.4 “Net claims related to the allocation of euro banknotes within the Eurosystem”. These balances are remunerated at the respective deposit facility rate.

In the year of the cash changeover and in the following five years, the intra-Eurosystem balances arising from the allocation of euro banknotes within the Eurosystem are adjusted in order to avoid significant changes in national central banks’ relative income positions as compared to previous years. The adjustments are based on the difference between the average value of the banknotes that each national central bank had in circulation in the reference period and the average value of the banknotes that would have been allocated to each of them during that period in accordance with the ECB’s capital key. The adjustments are reduced in annual increments until the first day of the sixth year after the cash changeover year. Thereafter, income from euro banknotes in circulation is allocated fully in proportion to the national central banks’ paid-up shares in the ECB’s capital. 

The adjustment in the reporting year resulted from the accession of the Croatian National Bank with effect from 1 January 2023. This will expire accordingly with effect from 31 December 2028. The interest income and expense arising from the remuneration of the intra-Eurosystem balances is cleared through the accounts of the ECB and disclosed under item 1 “Net interest income” of the Bundesbank’s profit and loss account. The Bulgarian central bank acceded to the Eurosystem with effect from 1 January 2026. The resulting adjustment will run until 31 December 2031.

The ECB’s income from the 8 % share of the euro banknotes in circulation as well as from securities purchased by the ECB as part of the securities markets programme (SMP), the third covered bond purchase programme (CBPP3), the asset-backed securities purchase programme (ABSPP) and the public sector purchase programme (PSPP) as well as the pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP) is distributed to the national central banks of the Eurosystem as interim profit in the same financial year in which the income arises, unless the ECB’s net profit is less than this income or the Governing Council of the ECB decides to retain the amount for allocation to the ECB risk provision. 4 No interim profit was distributed for financial year 2025 as the ECB is reporting a loss, as in the previous year. The ECB losses are not reflected in the Bundesbank’s annual accounts for 2025, but are carried forward on the ECB’s balance sheet. That loss carried forward will, however, place a (pro rata) burden on future annual results of the Bundesbank because ECB profit distributions will not be made.

Effective 1 January 2026, the Eurosystem grew in size as a result of the accession of the Bulgarian National Bank, which thereupon paid up its capital share in the ECB in full. This reduced the Bundesbank’s share in the fully paid-up capital of the ECB to 26.3152 %.

On 13 March 2024, the Governing Council of the ECB decided on changes to the operational framework for implementing monetary policy to ensure that the framework remains appropriate as the Eurosystem balance sheet normalises. In addition to other key parameters and features of the operational framework, it was agreed that the monetary policy stance would continue to be steered through the deposit facility rate. As a result, the Governing Council of the ECB decided that, as of 1 January 2025, the applicable deposit facility rate, rather than the main refinancing rate, should be used for the remuneration of claims or liabilities related to TARGET, net claims or liabilities related to the allocation of euro banknotes within the Eurosystem, and claims equivalent to the transfer of foreign reserves to the ECB. The same rule applies to the calculation of monetary income: the difference between the value of a national central bank’s earmarked assets and the value of its liability base will be remunerated, as of 1 January 2025, at the deposit facility rate, as will the income for government bonds purchased under the PSPP and PEPP without pooling risk and returns.

The Executive Board prepared the Deutsche Bundesbank’s financial statements – consisting of the balance sheet and the profit and loss account – for financial year 2025 on 17 February 2026. The financial statements were audited by Baker Tilly GmbH & Co. KG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft (Düsseldorf), whom the Executive Board engaged as external auditors on 1 September 2020 in accordance with Section 26(3) of the Bundesbank Act. The audit furthermore covered the notes on the annual financial statements, consisting of general information, notes on the individual balance sheet items as well as notes on the profit and loss account. The auditors issued an unqualified audit opinion on 24 February 2026 confirming that the Bundesbank’s financial statements for 2025 comply, in all material respects, with the legal requirements and the accounting policies of the Deutsche Bundesbank approved by the Executive Board and give a true and fair view of the net assets, financial position and results of operations of the Deutsche Bundesbank in accordance with German principles of proper accounting and with regard to the notes on the annual financial statements. After studying the external auditors’ unqualified audit opinion, the Executive Board decided that publication of the financial statements would take place on 5 March 2026.

As at 31 December 2025, the Bundesbank’s physical holdings (bars) of fine gold amounted to 3,350,285 kg, or 108 million fine ounces (ozf). These are supplemented by an additional 4 kg of gold receivables that were generated by the settlement of margins in the context of gold transactions. The gold was valued at the market price at the end of the year (1 kg = €117,964.50, or 1 ozf = €3,669.106). Compared with the previous year’s price (1 kg = €80,732.74, or 1 ozf = €2,511.069), this represents an increase of 46.1 %. The gold holdings declined by 0.04 % (1,260 kg, or 0.04 million ozf) in the year under review. This was due to the sale of gold to the Federal Government at market prices for the purpose of minting gold coins. The resulting income of €112 million is shown in sub-item 2.1 “Realised gains/losses arising from financial operations” in the profit and loss account.

This item comprises the receivables from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as well as balances with banks and security investments, loans and other foreign currency claims on non-euro area residents.

Sub-item 2.1 contains the Bundesbank’s receivables from the IMF, which arise from the Federal Republic of Germany’s membership of the IMF. The receivables, which total 46,953 million special drawing rights (SDRs) (€54,729 million), are made up of the drawing rights within the reserve tranche and the holdings of special drawing rights. 

The German quota was paid partially in gold, foreign currency and special drawing rights and partially in national currency. The undrawn portion of the quota share paid up in national currency is held in the form of euro balances at the IMF’s disposal.

The SDR 7,036 million (€8,201 million) in drawing rights in the reserve tranche represent the difference between the German quota (SDR 26,634 million, or €31,045 million) and the euro balances (€22,844 million, or SDR 19,599 million). The drawing rights in the reserve tranche allow Germany to obtain freely usable currencies from the IMF at any time.

Special drawing rights – by means of which freely usable currencies as per the IMF definition can be obtained at any time – fell by SDR 650 million (€4,360 million) to SDR 39,918 million (€46,528 million) in 2025. The holdings of special drawing rights also include special drawing rights which were allocated free of charge. A corresponding counterpart is shown as liability item 8 “Counterpart of special drawing rights allocated by the IMF”.

If all items on the assets side and the liabilities side of the balance sheet are taken into account, the net holdings of special drawing rights amounted to SDR 9,406 million, compared with SDR 9,621 million in the previous year. Valuation is based on the reference rate of SDR 1 = €1.1656 (previous year: SDR 1 = €1.2544) calculated by the ECB at the end of the year for all central banks participating in the Eurosystem.

Balances with banks and security investments, loans and other foreign currency claims reported under sub-item 2.2 amounted to €31,851 million as at the end of the year, compared with €33,970 million in the previous year. These include, in particular, US dollar holdings in the amount of US$30,802 million (€26,215 million), representing an increase of US$1,630 million on the year. The sub-item also contains holdings in yen (¥202,492 million, equivalent to €1,100 million), Australian dollar (A$1,938 million, equivalent to €1,102 million), Canadian dollar (C$2,570 million, equivalent to €1,598 million), Chinese yuan (renminbi) (2,287 million yuan, equivalent to €278 million) and British pound sterling (£1,357 million, equivalent to €1,555 million), and a small amount of other currencies. The holdings are interest-bearing. The foreign currency holdings were valued at the respective end-of-year market rate.

This item primarily shows the claims on euro area credit institutions arising from reverse repos transacted in foreign currency, which total €851 million (previous year: no holdings).

This item contains the loans of €3,866 million granted to foreign central banks as part of the ECB’s liquidity lines (previous year: no holdings). These bilateral swap and repo lines cover the euro liquidity needs of financial institutions in non-euro area countries via their central banks. Claims on non-euro area counterparties arising from bilateral repo transactions amounting to €109 million (previous year: €588 million) are also shown in this item. These claims result from reverse repos transacted simultaneously with repos, in which securities in the PSPP portfolio as well as PEPP public sector holdings are lent against federal securities on a cash-neutral basis; the transactions have a maximum term of seven days. The corresponding liabilities from the repos are shown under liability item 5 “Liabilities to non-euro area residents denominated in euro”.

The volume and structure of the liquidity-providing monetary policy operations carried out by the Bundesbank as part of the Eurosystem (main and longer-term refinancing operations and the marginal lending facility) are shown in this item. 

As at the end of the reporting year, the outstanding volume of the Eurosystem’s monetary policy operations amounted to €36,707 million (previous year: €34,221 million), of which the Bundesbank accounted for €8,443 million (previous year: €5,509 million). Pursuant to Article 32.4 of the Statute of the ESCB, risks from these operations, provided they materialise, are shared among the Eurosystem national central banks in proportion to the prevailing shares in the capital of the ECB. Losses arise only if the counterparty to a monetary policy operation defaults and the collateral it has provided proves insufficient upon realisation.

Main refinancing operations are regular weekly transactions with a standard one-week maturity, the purpose of which is to provide liquidity. In the reporting year, main refinancing operations were conducted as fixed rate tenders with full allotment. The year closed with main refinancing operations amounting to €5,256 million (previous year: €2,009 million). On a daily average, the outstanding volume of main refinancing operations came to €1,317 million (previous year: €878 million).

In the year under review, the longer-term refinancing operations with maturities of three months were carried out as fixed rate tenders with full allotment at the average main refinancing rate. As at 31 December 2025, take-up of these totalled €3,187 million (previous year: €3,500 million). On a daily average, the outstanding amount decreased from €26,887 million to €2,874 million due to the final four targeted longer-term refinancing operations from the third series reaching maturity in 2024. 

The marginal lending facility is a standing facility which counterparties may use to obtain overnight liquidity at a pre-specified interest rate. As in the previous year, no recourse was made to this facility at the end of 2025. Average daily use came to €59 million (previous year: €17 million).

This item, amounting to €7,368 million (previous year: €8,926 million), consists, in particular, of fixed-term deposits held at credit institutions totalling €6,599 million (previous year: €5,204 million), which arise from funds received in connection with central bank services (see liability item 5 “Liabilities to non-euro area residents denominated in euro”). Claims on euro area credit institutions arising from bilateral repo transactions amounting to €769 million (previous year: €3,722 million) are also included in this item. These claims result from reverse repos transacted simultaneously with repos, in which securities in the PSPP portfolio as well as PEPP public sector holdings are lent against federal securities on a cash-neutral basis; the transactions have a maximum term of seven days. The corresponding liabilities from the repos are shown under liability item 3 “Other liabilities to euro area credit institutions denominated in euro”. 

This item contains the holdings of securities denominated in euro resulting from purchases made within the framework of the Eurosystem purchase programmes announced by the Governing Council of the ECB, which are shown under sub-item 7.1 “Securities held for monetary policy purposes”. These holdings are carried at amortised cost, irrespective of whether the securities are held to maturity.

With reinvestments under the asset purchase programme (APP) having been discontinued as of July 2023 and reinvestments under the pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP) discontinued as of January 2025 as per the Governing Council’s decisions of 15 June 2023 and 12 December 2024 respectively, the year under review saw holdings under the APP (with the individual sub-programmes CBPP3, PSPP and CSPP) and the PEPP decrease as assets reached maturity.

As at year-end, the Eurosystem national central banks’ holdings under the securities markets programme (SMP) – of which the Bundesbank’s portfolio is now empty, all securities having reached maturity – amounted to €521 million (previous year: €1,050 million), their CBPP3 holdings to €193,147 million (previous year: €232,571 million), their CSPP holdings to €248,543 million (previous year: €288,374 million) and their PSPP holdings of securities issued by supranational institutions (of which the Bundesbank itself did not acquire any holdings) to €197,845 million (previous year: €227,808 million). As at 31 December 2025, the Eurosystem national central banks’ PEPP holdings amounted to €4,339 million in the covered bonds portfolio (previous year: €5,097 million), to €40,965 million in the corporate sector portfolio (previous year: €45,105 million) and to €148,959 million (previous year: €158,931 million) in the portfolio of securities issued by supranational institutions (of which the Bundesbank itself did not acquire any holdings). Consistent with Article 32.4 of the Statute of the ESCB, all risks from the SMP, CBPP3, CSPP and the above-mentioned PSPP and PEPP holdings, provided they materialise, are shared among the Eurosystem national central banks in proportion to the prevailing shares in the capital of the ECB, as is the case with the income received. Risks and income resulting from the government bonds purchased under the PSPP and PEPP (including regional government bonds and bonds issued by eligible agencies located in the euro area), on the other hand, are borne or are collected, respectively, by the individual national central banks holding these bonds. For its PSPP and PEPP public sector portfolio, the Bundesbank holds only bonds issued by German issuers.

The Governing Council of the ECB decided that there was no need to recognise any impairment losses on securities contained in the SMP, CBPP3, PSPP, CSPP and PEPP portfolios as at 31 December 2025, as it is expected that all payment obligations relating to the bonds and debt securities contained in Eurosystem central banks’ holdings will continue to be met as agreed.

This item shows the equalisation claims on the Federal Government and the non-interest-bearing debt register claim in respect of Berlin; both date back to the currency reform of 1948. They form the balance sheet counterpart of the amounts paid out at that time in cash per capita and per enterprise and of the initial provision of credit institutions and public corporations with central bank money. Equalisation claims yield interest at a rate of 1 % per annum. In conjunction with Article 123 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (the Lisbon Treaty), it has been stipulated that the equalisation claims and the debt register claim are to be redeemed in ten annual instalments, starting in 2024. The second redemption payment was made as at 31 December 2025; totalling €445 million, it brought the equalisation claims down to €3,550 million (previous year: €3,995 million).

The Bundesbank’s claims on the ECB and on the national central banks participating in the Eurosystem are consolidated in this item.

Sub-item 9.1 shows the Bundesbank’s participating interest in the ECB. Pursuant to Article 28 of the Statute of the ESCB, the ESCB national central banks are the sole subscribers to the capital of the ECB. The Bundesbank’s participating interest in the ECB amounted to a nominal €2,357 million as at 31 December 2025; including the Bundesbank’s share of the ECB’s net equity, effective from 1 January 2024, it came to €2,786 million.

Sub-item 9.2 contains the Bundesbank’s euro-denominated claims equivalent to the transfer of foreign reserves to the ECB. At the beginning of 1999, the central banks participating in the Eurosystem transferred foreign reserve assets (15 % in gold and 85 % in foreign currency) to the ECB in accordance with Article 30 of the Statute of the ESCB. Adjustments to the key for subscription of the ECB’s capital also result in adjustments to the Bundesbank’s claims equivalent to the transfer of foreign reserves to the ECB. As at 31 December 2025, these claims amounted to €10,802 million, unchanged from the previous year. As the transferred gold does not earn any interest, the claims are remunerated at 85 % of the prevailing deposit facility rate.

The cross-border payments processed in TARGET result in the automatic and direct creation of a single liability to, or claim on, the ECB at the end of each business day. As at the end of the year, the Bundesbank’s claim on the ECB was €22,836 million lower at €1,023,482 million, which is contained in sub-item 9.3 “Claims related to TARGET”. This is remunerated at the respective deposit facility rate, with the exception of the unremunerated intra-Eurosystem liabilities resulting from the swap transactions between the ECB and the Bundesbank. On a daily average, the remunerated claim amounted to €1,068,571 million (previous year: €1,072,377 million). 

Sub-item 9.4 “Net claims related to the allocation of euro banknotes within the Eurosystem” shows the claims which arise from applying the euro banknote allocation key. As in the previous year, the Bundesbank did not have a claim as at the end of the year but a liability, which is shown in liability sub-item 9.2 “Net liabilities related to the allocation of euro banknotes within the Eurosystem”.

Sub-item 9.5 “Other claims within the Eurosystem (net)” would show a net claim arising from other assets and liabilities within the Eurosystem. As at the end of the year, the Bundesbank had a net liability, which is reported with notes on the liabilities side under sub-item 9.3 “Other liabilities within the Eurosystem (net)”.

This item contains the asset items arising from payments still being processed within the Bundesbank.

The Bundesbank’s holdings of euro coins are shown in sub-item 11.1 “Coins”. New coins are received from the federal mints at their nominal value for the account of the Federal Government, which holds the coin prerogative.

Sub-item 11.2 “Tangible and intangible fixed assets” amounted to €709 million, compared with €759 million in the previous year. It comprises land and buildings, furniture and equipment including computer equipment, and software.

Sub-item 11.3 “Other financial assets” amounted to €6,066 million, compared with €6,084 million in the previous year. It contains the Bundesbank’s own funds portfolio as a counterpart to its capital, reserves and long-term provisions for civil servant pensions and healthcare assistance. The own funds portfolio is invested not in government securities but primarily in euro-denominated fixed rate covered bonds from Eurosystem countries, non-Eurosystem countries and supranational issuers, which are generally held to maturity and are, therefore, valued at amortised cost.

This sub-item also includes €51 million in participating interests held by the Bundesbank. The Bundesbank’s participating interest in the Bank for International Settlements, Basel, was unchanged at €50 million as at the end of the year; it holds 50,100 shares, with 25 % of their par value being paid-in capital. As in the previous year, the participating interest in the cooperative society S.W.I.F.T., La Hulpe (Belgium), amounted to €1 million.

Claims on euro area counterparties other than credit institutions arising from bilateral repo transactions amounting to €313 million (previous year: €773 million) are also shown in this sub-item. These claims resulted from reverse repos transacted simultaneously with repos, in which securities in the PSPP portfolio as well as PEPP public sector holdings are lent against federal securities on a cash-neutral basis; the transactions have a maximum term of seven days. The corresponding liabilities from the repos are shown under liability sub-item 4.2 “Other liabilities”.

Sub-item 11.5 “Accruals and prepaid expenses” contains accruals and prepaid expenses as at 31 December 2025. This chiefly consists of (accrued) interest income due in the new financial year from securities and from the TARGET claim on the ECB which were acquired or transacted in 2025.

The total value of euro banknotes issued by the central banks of the Eurosystem is distributed among these banks on the last business day of each month in accordance with the key for allocating euro banknotes (see “Notes on the annual accounts: general information”). According to the banknote allocation key applied as at 31 December 2025, the Bundesbank has a 24.5 % share of the value of all the euro banknotes in circulation. During the year under review, the total value of banknotes in circulation within the Eurosystem rose from €1,588.3 billion to €1,619.5 billion, or by 2.0 %. Taking into account the allocation key, the Bundesbank had euro banknotes in circulation worth €396,778 million as at the end of the year, compared with €389,136 million a year previously. The value of the euro banknotes actually issued by the Bundesbank increased in 2025 by 3.5 % from €956,327 million to €989,885 million. As this was more than the allocated amount, the difference of €593,107 million (previous year: €567,191 million) is shown in liability sub-item 9.2 “Net liabilities related to the allocation of euro banknotes within the Eurosystem”.

Sub-item 2.1 “Current accounts” contains the deposits of credit institutions, amounting to €69,713 million (previous year: €76,527 million), which are also used to meet the minimum reserve requirement and to settle payments. The main criterion for including these deposits in this sub-item is that the relevant counterparties appear in the list of institutions which are subject to the Eurosystem’s minimum reserve regulations. The balances held to fulfil the minimum reserve requirement, which have not been remunerated since September 2023, amounted to €45,843 million on an annual average. On a daily average, the current account deposits increased from €46,433 million in 2024 to €47,638 million in 2025.

Sub-item 2.2 “Deposit facility”, amounting to €753,917 million (previous year: €883,694 million), contains overnight deposits remunerated at the deposit facility rate. On a daily average, the deposit facility amounted to €921,557 million, compared with €1,079,217 million in 2024.

This item mainly contains liabilities to euro area credit institutions arising from bilateral repo transactions. In these transactions, securities in the PSPP portfolio as well as PEPP public sector holdings are lent against cash as collateral, or in the case of simultaneous reverse repos, against federal securities on a cash-neutral basis; the transactions have a maximum term of seven days. As at the end of the year, securities lending against cash as collateral gave rise to liabilities in the amount of €372 million (previous year: €4,544 million), and securities lending against federal securities resulted in liabilities of €769 million (previous year: €3,722 million); the corresponding claims are reported in asset item 6 “Other claims on euro area credit institutions denominated in euro”. In addition, this item contains liabilities in the amount of €482 million (previous year: €452 million) arising from account balances pledged for deposit protection pursuant to the Deposit Guarantee Act (Einlagensicherungsgesetz) in conjunction with the Regulation on the Financing of the Compensation Scheme (Entschädigungseinrichtungs-Finanzierungsverordnung) as well as account balances of credit institutions in the amount of €1,703 million (previous year: €118 million) which are exempt from minimum reserve requirements due to the imposition of freezing orders.

Sub-item 4.1 “General government deposits” encompasses the balances of the Federal Government, its special funds, the state governments, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and other public depositors (social security funds and local governments). On 31 December 2025, general government deposits amounted to €10,233 million in total (previous year: €20,348 million). On a daily average, the volume amounted to €11,320 million (previous year: €13,847 million).

Sub-item 4.2 “Other liabilities” amounted to €40,923 million, compared with €13,897 million a year earlier. It mainly comprises deposits of other financial service providers. In addition, as at 31 December 2025, this sub-item includes liabilities to euro area counterparties other than credit institutions arising from bilateral repo transactions centrally cleared via Eurex. In these repo transactions, securities in the PSPP portfolio as well as PEPP public sector holdings are lent against cash as collateral, or in the case of simultaneous reverse repos, against federal securities on a cash-neutral basis; the transactions have a maximum term of seven days. As at the end of the year, securities lending against cash as collateral gave rise to liabilities in the amount of €166 million (previous year: no liabilities), and securities lending against Federal securities resulted in liabilities of €313 million (previous year: €773 million); the corresponding claims are reported in asset sub-item 11.3 “Other financial assets”. On a daily average, the sub-item amounted to €13,852 million (previous year: €12,520 million).

This balance sheet item, amounting to €55,978 million (previous year: €90,748 million), contains the balances of non-euro area central banks, monetary authorities, international organisations and commercial banks held, inter alia, to settle payments. On a daily average, the volume amounted to €45,139 million (previous year: €54,196 million). As at 31 December 2025, deposits of €32,998 million were attributable to non-euro area central banks and monetary authorities, of which €5,192 million was attributable to central banks within the European Union. This item also includes fixed-term deposits of central banks accepted as part of the Bundesbank’s central bank services amounting to €6,599 million (previous year: €5,204 million), which are then invested in the money market (see asset item 6 “Other claims on euro area credit institutions denominated in euro”). Liabilities to non-euro area commercial banks arising from bilateral repo transactions are also recorded in this item. In these repo transactions, securities in the PSPP portfolio as well as PEPP public sector holdings are lent against cash as collateral, or in the case of simultaneous reverse repos, against federal securities on a cash-neutral basis; the transactions have a maximum term of seven days. As at the end of the year, securities lending against cash as collateral gave rise to liabilities in the amount of €4 million (previous year: €2,312 million), and securities lending against federal securities resulted in liabilities of €109 million (previous year: €588 million); the corresponding claims are reported in asset item 4 “Claims on non-euro area residents denominated in euro”.

This item contains, in particular, deposits on foreign currency accounts of the Federal Government.

The counterpart of the special drawing rights (SDRs) allocated by the IMF free of charge corresponds to the allocations of SDRs to the Federal Republic of Germany from 1970 to 1972, from 1979 to 1981, in 2009 and in 2021, which together totalled SDR 37,587 million (see asset sub-item 2.1 “Receivables from the IMF”).

The Bundesbank’s liabilities to the ECB and to the other central banks participating in the Eurosystem are consolidated in this item.

Sub-item 9.1 contains “Liabilities related to TARGET”. As at the end of the year, the Bundesbank had a claim on the ECB arising from cross-border payments made via TARGET, which is shown on the assets side in sub-item 9.3 “Claims related to TARGET” and outlined there.

Sub-item 9.2 “Net liabilities related to the allocation of euro banknotes within the Eurosystem” contains the liabilities arising from the application of the euro banknote allocation key (see liability item 1 “Banknotes in circulation”). As at the end of the year, these liabilities amounted to €593,107 million in total (previous year: €567,191 million). The 8 % share of the total value of euro banknotes in circulation attributable to the ECB (€129,563 million) resulted in a liability of €34,503 million for the Bundesbank (according to its capital share of 26.6301 %). In addition, the allocation of the remaining 92 % of euro banknotes in circulation to the balance sheets of the national central banks resulted in a liability of €558,604 million for the Bundesbank. The reason for the size of this liability was the Bundesbank’s still disproportionately high share of banknote issuance (61.1 %), which is, in particular, attributable to the relatively high level of domestic demand for banknotes from non-banks.

The net liabilities arising from other assets and liabilities within the Eurosystem is shown in sub-item 9.3 “Other liabilities within the Eurosystem (net)”. As at the end of the year, the Bundesbank had a net liability of €1,701 million (previous year: €5,445 million) arising, in particular, from the pooling of monetary income among the national central banks (see profit and loss item 3 “Net result of pooling monetary income”).

This item contains the liability items arising from payments still being processed within the Bundesbank.

Sub-item 11.2 “Accruals and income collected in advance” contains the accrued and collected income as at 31 December 2025. This consists mainly of (accrued) interest expenses which are due in the new financial year but were incurred in the previous financial year and which arose in connection with the allocation of banknotes within the Eurosystem.

Sub-item 11.3 “Sundry” comprises the liabilities arising from Deutsche Mark banknotes still in circulation. Deutsche Mark banknotes are no longer legal tender. However, the Bundesbank has publicly undertaken to redeem Deutsche Mark banknotes that are still in circulation for an indefinite period. The Deutsche Mark banknotes still in circulation belong to the series BBk I/Ia and BBk III/IIIa and as at the end of 2025 totalled €2,867 million. The banknote series BBk I/Ia accounted for €1,166 million of this total and the banknote series BBk III/IIIa for €1,700 million. Taking into account the partial derecognitions in 2004 and 2021 and the deposits that have been made in the meantime, the liabilities arising from Deutsche Mark banknotes still in circulation (now only from the banknote series BBk III/IIIa) amounted to €404 million (previous year: €417 million) as at the reporting date. Deposits of Deutsche Mark banknotes in 2025 totalled €18 million, of which €13 million consisted of the BBk III/IIIa series banknotes and €4 million of the BBk I/Ia series banknotes (see profit and loss item 11 “Other expenses”).

Sub-item 12.1 “Provision for general risk” would show the provision for general risk pursuant to Section 26(2) of the Bundesbank Act. 

Sub-item 12.2 “Other provisions” contains the provisions for monetary policy operations pursuant to the Eurosystem’s accounting principles and provisions pursuant to regulations set forth in the Commercial Code.