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Banking capital Frankfurt am Main
Photo: Frank Rumpenhorst / picture alliance / dpa
Germany's banks can hope for an equity injection in the billions.
Between 2011 and 2014, the institutes paid a good 2.3 billion euros into the national restructuring fund.
This money is now free again.
The Federal Cabinet, based on a proposal from the Ministry of Finance, must decide whether the amount will flow back to the banks.
A vote is expected after the parliamentary summer recess.
According to observers, it will most likely be in favor of the institutes.
The federal government set up the fund after the financial crisis in order to shift the burden of future banking crises onto the banking industry.
From 2015, the national funds were replaced by a European solution, the Single Resolution Fund (SRF).
It is also fed by contributions from the credit industry.
Depositors are thousands of banks from the 19 countries of the euro area.
The SRF should be filled with around 80 billion euros by 2023, and by the end of this year it will be a good 66 billion euros.
The original regulation provided for contributions from national funds to be transferred to the European equivalent.
However, contrary to the recommendations of the Bundesbank and the Bundesrat, the Bundestag had decided to temporarily retain the old funds in the national restructuring fund in order to be able to close any financing gaps in the development phase of the SRF.
"Cheeky of them to now demand money back from the federal government"
Now the money from the national fund is no longer needed.
If there is actually a refund, banks and savings banks could, at least in theory, strengthen their equity and issue more loans.
A repayment would still be absurd, says Gerhard Schick, founder of the association Bürgerbewegung Finanzwende.
"In view of the huge damage that the banks caused in the financial crisis, it's cheeky of them to now demand money back from the federal government," says the former financial expert for the Greens parliamentary group.
He demands that the money be transferred to the special financial market stabilization fund, which the federal government has used since 2008 to save banks.
"The question will show whether Finance Minister Christian Lindner has the interests of the taxpayers or the banks in mind." , to 22.8 billion euros.
