Federal securities are bearer bonds that are traded daily and can therefore change hands at any time. The identity of the person or institution holding them is not recorded. However, the Federal Government’s creditor structure can be estimated using various sources of information. These include public data, such as the official statistics on aggregated holder data from the ECB’s Securities Holdings Statistics (SHS) that were previously published here, annual reports from major investors, or media coverage. The Finance Agency uses these official sources, as well as its own discussions with investors, to verify the plausibility of the data.

The creditor statistics published here from 2026, however, are based on trading data from members of the Bund Issues Auction Group. Based on their purchases and sales to end investors, and with knowledge of the maturities of the traded Federal securities, it is possible to estimate holdings by investor type and region.

Other Europe = Europe outside the euro area; Other = Africa and Arab countries

The region with the largest holdings of Federal securities is the euro area – heavily influenced by the ECB’s large holdings, which are gradually being reduced, and which also account for the very high proportion held by central banks. The total of € 1,162 bn, or 57 % of all Federal securities, also includes the 10 % held by the Financial Agency. Almost € 450 bn’ worth of Federal securities are held by European investors outside the euro area, particularly from the UK and Switzerland, but also from Denmark, amongst other. Asian investors own the third-highest holdings – almost € 380 bn, which have grown by more than a quarter since the first quarter of 2025.

These largest increases of all regions in Asia are offset by the largest declines in holdings in the Americas, at almost -40 %. As with hedge funds, the Americas play only a marginal role amongst holders of Federal securities. Only Africa and the Arab countries (“Other”) together hold even fewer Federal securities.

Real Money = asset managers, insurance companies, pension funds and other (in particular retail and non-financial corporate investors)

The Federal government’s largest creditors are central banks and official institutions (OI), including, for example, sovereign wealth funds. It is estimated that around half of all Federal securities are held in their portfolios. At the end of the first quarter of 2026, this amounted to around € 1,030 bn euros, 8 % more than in the first quarter of 2025. A long way behind are ‘real money’ investors, who hold around a fifth of Federal securities: € 427 bn euros. Among all creditors, their holdings are growing the fastest, at 17 %. Hedge funds, by contrast, are reducing their holdings by 7 % to € 25 bn euros. Their significance as holders of Federal securities lags far behind their important role in trading. This disparity in significance is less pronounced for the third-largest holder of Federal securities: banks and brokers, with € 338 bn.

The Finance Agency holds around 10 % of the total volume of all Federal securities in the Federal Government’s own account – known as the ‘own holdings’. These Federal securities are used every day to promote liquidity on the secondary market and the repo market. So securities that are in short supply in trading can be released onto the market. To build up and maintain the own portfolio, a portion of each issue is retained – the so-called retention quote.