The new 'grand coalition' of conservatives and socialists in Germany may have a huge majority in the Bundestag, but there are already disagreements over the extent of national powers in the functioning of the eurozone banking union.

Unlisted white goods manufacturer Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte chose an unregulated Frankfurt market to launch its debut Eurobond issue targeting institutional investors only. Despite the unusual approach, the deal was more than twice oversubscribed.

German banks will want to look as good as possible for the European Central Bank’s asset quality review, especially in light of the country’s hard line during various sovereign debt and banking crises in the wider eurozone. 

Moves to establish an EU-wide banking union have developed at a rapid pace in recent months, and, if carried out properly, would complete the creation of a single market for financial services throughout Europe.

Following its acquisition of Dresdner Bank in 2008, Germany’s Commerzbank is now turning its focus back to developing products and services, its chief information officer tells The Banker.

European securities will soon be settled on a central IT platform – Target2 Securities (T2S) – as part of the European Central Bank's initiative to harmonise post-trade standards. With the first wave of implementation scheduled for 2015, Duygu Tavan investigates how the T2S project is progressing and its consequences for the securities industry.

Lars Millberg, head of transaction banking at SEB's merchant banking division, discusses the importance of innovation, and describes the bank's unique approach to encouraging out-of-the-box thinking among its employees.

According to the country's central bank, the shipping loans on banks' balance sheets are posing a considerable risk to the German banking sector, but some German banks are reluctant to deleverage their portfolios at a loss.

The European Central Bank has helped assuage fears of an imminent eurozone breakup, but sovereign, supranational and agency debt management officials must still contend with ratings downgrades and difficult political and fiscal situations in a number of countries. The Banker hears from a range of EU issuers both inside and outside the eurozone.