Finanzplatz Deutschland

The, two years ago, it was the Cassandras’ turn: German banks were heading for Japanese conditions and the community in the leading financial center Frankfurt was disintegrating. In contrast to the Cassandra of yore, the gloom-mongers were given a hearing but their predictions – fortunately – proved to be wrong.

The German banks have pulled themselves out of the mess by their own bootlaces. The necessary cuts were doubtless painful and, with an eye on the international competition, the process of boosting earnings power is not yet over. But developments in Germany have little to do with the Japanese syndrome – there were neither spectacular bank collapses and accounting scandals nor did the government have to inject billions. While Japan hovered on the brink of a financial crisis for a long decade, the German financial system proved itself stable in the “crisis years” 2002 and 2003.