Germany

The ECB President Mario Draghi has vigorously defended the measures before German parliamentarians that in recent months had not spared criticism. In his speech at the Bundestag (German Parliament), he responded to German concerns by saying that "The rates have to be low today to allow a return to higher rates in the future" and that "to get all the benefits of monetary policy measures, other policies should contribute more firmly", both at national and European level.

Deutsche Bank sells the London-based insurance company Abbey Life to Phoenix Group for 935 million pounds (1.1 billion euros, $ 1.22 billion).

This was communicated by the German bank that took over Abbey Life in 2007, stressing that the operation will have a positive impact on capital of 1.1 billion euro. Although the transaction "will have a net positive capital impact," it’s expected to lead to a pre-tax loss of around €800 million "primarily resulting from impairment of goodwill and intangible assets."

Deutsche Bank falls to lowest level in 24 years on the stock market, weighed down by concerns about the financial soundness of the German bank in view of the mega compensation from $ 14 billion demanded by the US to close the dispute linked to subprime mortgages.

he German bunds rallied Thursday after the United States Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged and downgraded the economic outlook, encouraging investors to seek safe-haven assets.

At its two-day meeting, ended on Wednesday, the U.S. central bank held its target range on short-term rates unchanged at 0.25 percent to 0.50 percent, leaving the door open for a possible rate increase in December.

Volkswagen will face claims for 8.2 billion euro over Dieselgate. About 1,400 lawsuits have been lodged at the regional court in Braunschweig near VW’s Wolfsburg headquarters, the court said.

The facts date back to last year, when from United States emerged that the Wolfsburg automaker used a software to make up the data on harmful emissions of its cars. Overall about two billion requests come from institutional investors, while the remaining 6.2 billion come from private investors.

Deutsche Bank has received from the US authorities the request to pay $ 14 bn to close the case into mortgage-backed securities. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the facts are previous to the outbreak of the 2008 crisis that led to the failure of Lehman Brothers. Certainly, if the figure is confirmed, it would not only among the highest paid to resolve similar issues but it would much over analysts’ expectations of the German group.

The German Real Estate market is in a boom phase. The reason, according to a study by Postbank, must be sought in the fact that investors are taking away the savings from the stock and bond market to invest in real estate.

Although most Germans seems to prefer the rent to the purchase of the house, the sector of real estate has become an increasingly attractive option. This not only because the cost of rent has suffered significant tweaks to the upside, but also for the obvious benefits that come from a battered economy that continues pushing the monetary policy banks to keep interest rates at historic lows.

Marriage between Bayer and Monsanto, giant seed, may be announced. As reported by the BBC website, after yet another revival of the German company that has put into the pot $ 130 per share, valuing the US group $ 66 billion, the leaders of American society have accepted the offer.