Mr. Weimer, the share pension made it into the coalition agreement.

Is the equity culture in Germany now about to make a big breakthrough?

Daniel Mohr

Editor in the economy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

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Inken Schönauer

Editor in business, responsible for the financial market.

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The chances have seldom been better.

But now delivery must also be made.

The fact that the share pension is in the coalition agreement does not mean that it will really come.

Why so pessimistic?

No.

I am cautiously optimistic.

Politics can and must shape it now.

It's about sharing in the economic success of entrepreneurial activity.

When it comes to pensions, those who are already better off have an advantage.

In general, access to productive capital must be made easier.

With the ongoing phase of low interest rates and the progressive aging of society, this will become a must.

Do you have specific ideas?

In Germany we unfortunately only think of stocks when it comes to this topic.

When I talk about equity culture, however, I am interested in participating in all asset classes - including private equity, for example.

This is still a far too elitist asset class today.

In the current environment, private equity can generate returns that are twice as high as stocks.

We are currently seeing 15 percent per year.

This potential must not bypass private investors.

It cannot be that you usually have to bring a minimum of 500,000 euros with you in order to invest in private equity.

There are already a few options for private investors.

Yes, but not enough.

That has to be more.

In the medium term, I'm also relying heavily on digitization or tokenization.

This would give completely different options.

After all, people are now more concerned with the stock market.

New internet providers have been able to get young people excited about the stock market in particular.

When we think of Gamestop, it has a whole new public.

Is that a curse or a blessing?

The younger generation has understood that there is not much left to earn with the savings account.

The mobile phone has also made it easier to access the capital market here.

It is now hip to trade on the stock exchange.

People used to talk about football, now they talk about stock prices.

And in doing so, the risk is forgotten, as we have seen with Wirecard.

No.

The younger and better educated generation has a different relationship to money.

It is no longer primarily savings that are made - investments are made.

This is accompanied by a different and quite healthy understanding of risk.

On the subject of stock picking, as the head of the stock exchange, I can only say: structurally, it simply makes no sense for the normal investor.

The information disadvantage compared to institutional investors is simply too great.

At Wirecard, all I can think of is: Greed eats the brain.

For a long time that was pure speculation.

Are private investors still important for their business?

Without question: For us, of course, institutional investors are much more important to our business than private investors.

But we are currently seeing the verve with which retail investors are pushing into the markets in the USA.

This will also become a structural trend for us.

What used to be a home loan and savings contract should now be a stock savings plan or a monthly ETF investment.

But beyond these investments, we as a stock exchange live primarily from the ups and downs of the markets.

Our magic word is volatility.

We earn from that.