2023-05-10 15:14:39
Nfter the sharpest rise in interest rates since the 1980s, it is up to the banking supervisory authorities. The bond prices, which have fallen with the rise in interest rates, are tearing gaps in many bank balance sheets, which in Germany could previously be filled with reserves and capital buffers. But these reserves have been used up. The German financial regulator Bafin rightly no longer trusts the annual financial statements certified by auditors alone, but is tightening its own control measures to uncover liquidity risks in the banks.
After the financial crisis from 2008, higher capital requirements for banks were in the foreground. The interbank market for short-term money lending had also dried up at the time, and liquidity risks arose. These hit, for example, state banks that only had a few regular customers. One lesson at the time was therefore to rely more heavily on customer savings when it came to bank financing. But the recent demise of banks like Silicon Valley and Credit Suisse, for example, has shown that customers are now able to withdraw their deposits at lightning speed even if there is even a hint of panic. There doesn’t even have to be a rational reason for this.
The warning from Bafin boss Branson to the smaller banks and savings banks that report directly to him is therefore clear and correct: the fight against liquidity risk has a price. Bind customers by offering them higher interest rates too!
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