Bundesbank

Bundesbank, central bank of Germany, located in Frankfurt am Main. It was established in 1957 as the central bank of the Federal Republic of Germany, with a constitution that until the introduction of the single European currency (the Euro) in January 2002 called for it to maintain the value of the Mark both internally and externally. The Bundesbank became the central bank for the whole of Germany with the reunification of East Germany and West Germany in 1990. With the adoption of the Euro by the European Union (EU), as called for in the Maastricht Treaty, the Bundesbank became a significant part of the European System of Central Banks, which also includes the European Central Bank. The Bundesbank is now responsible for issuing Euro notes and coins within Germany.

The Bundesbank's constitution gives it considerable independence from the German central government, and its immunity to political pressure is widely regarded as one factor behind modern Germany's consistently low rate of inflation. The policies of the Bundesbank are therefore watched as closely as German government policies, not least because the strength of the German economy projects their influence far beyond German, and EU, borders. The Bundesbank has a decentralized structure with nine regional main offices known as Land Central Banks.