Update on interest rates for the “Zinszusatzreserve”

The Bundesbank has published the “Bezugszins” (10-year zero-coupon euro swap rate) for October 2025. It amounts to 2.659 %.

Already since October the “Referenzzins” for the calculation of the “Zinszusatzreserve (ZZR)” as of 31.12.2025  can be calculated as 1.57 %.

Assuming that the “Bezugszins” remains constant, the “Referenzzins” as at 31.12.2026 would be 1.57 %.

The following table shows the development of the “Bezugszins” (in %) in the previous and current financial year:

Bezugszins
Jahr Monat
2024 1 2.567
2 2.711
3 2.570
4 2.842
5 2.882
6 2.820
7 2.560
8 2.540
9 2.347
10 2.420
11 2.153
12 2.365
2025 1 2.411
2 2.299
3 2.650
4 2.449
5 2.528
6 2.599
7 2.682
8 2.674
9 2.696
10 2.659

The next table shows the historical development of the interest rates and mean values (all in %) relevant for the calculation of the “Zinszusatzreserve” and “Sicherungsbedarf” according the corridor method prescribed in §5 of Deckungsrückstellungsverordnung (DeckRV).

Jahresmittelwert Bezugszins 9-Monats-Mittelwert Bezugszins 10-Jahres-Mittelwert Bezugszins Referenzzins Korridormethode
Jahr
2010 3.13 3.07 4.100 4.10
2011 3.15 3.33 3.910 3.91
2012 2.14 2.02 3.630 3.63
2013 1.96 1.90 3.410 3.41
2014 1.42 1.57 3.150 3.15
2015 0.87 0.86 2.880 2.88
2016 0.51 0.47 2.540 2.54
2017 0.85 0.84 2.210 2.21
2018 0.96 0.98 1.882 2.09
2019 0.23 0.28 1.527 1.92
2020 -0.19 -0.16 1.193 1.73
2021 0.09 0.04 0.879 1.57
2022 2.02 1.71 0.841 1.57
2023 3.02 3.04 0.980 1.57
2024 2.57 2.65 1.101 1.57
2025 NaN 2.56 1.262 1.57

If the “Bezugszins” remains constant in the future, the “Referenzzins” would develop as follows in the next years.

Jahresmittelwert Bezugszins 9-Monats-Mittelwert Bezugszins 10-Jahres-Mittelwert Bezugszins Referenzzins Korridormethode
Jahr
2025 2.59 2.56 1.262 1.57
2026 2.66 2.66 1.480 1.57
2027 2.66 2.66 1.661 1.67
2028 2.66 2.66 1.831 1.76
2029 2.66 2.66 2.074 1.85
2030 2.66 2.66 2.359 1.93
2031 2.66 2.66 2.616 2.00
2032 2.66 2.66 2.680 2.06
2033 2.66 2.66 2.644 2.12
2034 2.66 2.66 2.653 2.17
2035 2.66 2.66 2.660 2.22

Remarks:

1. The value given in column “10-Jahres-Mittelwert Bezugszins” is calculated from the annual averages of the “Bezugszins” of the nine previous years and the average of the “Bezugszins” of the first nine months of the current year. It also corresponds to the “Referenzzins” of the old pre-2018 method.

2. The “Jahresmittelwert Bezugszins” stated is the value of the “Bezugszins” published by Bundesbank averaged over twelve months.

3. The column “Referenzzins Korridormethode” contains the values of the old calculation method for years before 2018.

4. The series of “Bezugszins” (10-year-zero-coupon-euro-swap-rates) can be found here: Deutsche Bundesbank

5. All data without waranty.