At the same time, the TARGET system that we operate is pivotal to the handling of cashless payment transactions. German citizens value cash very highly, and that’s quite simply a fact. For them, it offers a whole range of advantages. These merits, alongside many other interesting findings, are described in detail in an article in the Annual Report.
People were very hesitant about saving longterm, and many initial public offerings of bonds were disappointing. Just to give you an idea: during the first 18 months of the D-Mark, only about half of all bond IPOs received funding on the infant German capital market.