Bundesbank's Buch sees structural cause for German banks' low profits

[October 01, 2019]  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German banks should look at the structural causes of their falling profits as these predate the current phase of low-to-negative European Central Bank rates, the Bundesbank's vice-president Claudia Buch said on Tuesday.

"The profitability of the German banking sector has been pretty much on a declining trend for way more than the period of the very low or negative interest rates," Buch, who is believed to be in the race for an ECB board seat, said.

"That tells me that there is some structural issue here."

(Reporting By Francesco Canepa; editing by John Stonestreet)

[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.