Update on interest rates for the “Zinszusatzreserve”

The Bundesbank has published the “Bezugszins” (10-year zero-coupon euro swap rate) for February 2026. It amounts to 2.685 %.

The “Referenzzins” for the calculation of the “Zinszusatzreserve (ZZR)” as of 31.12.2025  amounts to 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 months:

Bezugszins
Jahr Monat
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
11 2.785
12 2.964
2026 1 2.894
2 2.685

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 2.62 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
2026 2.71 2.71 1.488 1.57
2027 2.69 2.69 1.672 1.68
2028 2.69 2.69 1.845 1.78
2029 2.69 2.69 2.091 1.87
2030 2.69 2.69 2.379 1.95
2031 2.69 2.69 2.639 2.02
2032 2.69 2.69 2.706 2.09
2033 2.69 2.69 2.673 2.15
2034 2.69 2.69 2.685 2.20
2035 2.69 2.69 2.692 2.25

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.