FCF Bank Monitor – Q3 2024 published

On a biannual basis, FCF publishes its FCF Bank-Monitor.  The FCF Bank-Monitor is a research report, based on publicly available data, on the most active and largest 22 banking institutions addressing the German and Austrian Mittelstand. It supports CFOs and Heads of Treasury in the selection of their long-term banking partners, following the motto “Know-Your-Bank”.

The FCF Bank Monitor includes:

• Credit Default Swaps: Analysis of the 1-, 5- and 10-year Credit Default Swap-Spreads (CDS-Spreads), which serve as a forward-looking risk indicator within the banking sector.
• Rating: Rating information of the big-3 rating agencies.
• Performance: Key fundamental performance indicators for financial institutions.
• Bank Ranking: A ranking based on above criteria provides insight into the health and market perspective of the individual banking institutions, in addition to highlighting the relative performance between the institutions.
• League Table: Most active banks in German and Austrian mid-cap segments by lending volume.

Key findings of the Q3 2024 FCF Bank Monitor:

• The trend of declining CDS spreads, which started in 2023, continued in Q3 2024 for both domestic and foreign banks. The trend reflects lower inflation expectations, the market’s confidence in a “soft landing” for the European economy and declining risk in the banking sector.
• The Q3 2024 league table is headed, once again, by Bayern LB, followed by ING Bank and Crédit Mutuel. The latter is also the biggest winner, moving up eight places compared to Q1 2024.
• The average CDS spreads of German banks are now trading slightly below those of foreign institutions – a reflection of the high stability of German institutes.