The paper describes how banks act as a source of financing for the real economy and transformation—and why a competitive, risk-adequate regulatory framework is essential for this.

People think of Germany as a country filled with engineers, innovators and perfectionists. And yet many decisions cannot be made without an underlying fear that something might go wrong. This careful consideration, this fear of unintended consequences, is often summarised with just two words: German Angst.

The Association of German Banks took this as an opportunity to conduct two studies to ask teachers about their opinions, the problems they face, and their hopes for the future – using qualitative group discussions and a quantitative survey.