German central bank announces first representatives to Africa

German central bank, the Deutsche Bundesbank (Bundesbank), on Monday announced its representatives to be based in Pretoria, its first on the African continent as part of its efforts to explore the African market.

Andreas Dombret, a member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank, said at a press briefing in Pretoria that the expansion of the Bundesbank's network of representatives enables the Bundesbank to track developments in almost all of the G20 countries, directly or indirectly.

The representatives' main tasks include observing and analysing the financial system, and not least detecting financial crises early on, should they arise.

"An important lesson learned from the global financial crisis is that isolated national efforts cannot safeguard the stability of our financial system," he said.

Dombret said the Bundesbank and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) will start by jointly undertaking two research projects: exchanging best practices in bank stress testing, and exploring how to cooperate more closely on G20 issues.

SARB Deputy Governor Daniel Mminele told the media briefing that the representative will facilitate collaborative research projects between the two central banks in monetary policy and financial stability.

The appointment of Bundesbank representatives comes after the two central banks signed a cooperation agreement in February this year aimed at enhancing collaboration between the two central banks.

This will be done through joint research and project cooperation on central banking issues. Endit