diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7f9e29969b..50f13c81a2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -304,9 +304,12 @@ Note: Your Java environment may need to be set up correctly to use SSL.
 
 Restart OBP-API, if you get an error, check your Java environment can connect to the host over SSL.
 
-Note: You can copy the following example files to prepare your own configurations:
+Note: `/obp-api/src/main/resources/logback.xml` ships ready to use, defaulting to INFO. Set the
+`LOG_LEVEL` environment variable (e.g. `LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG` or `LOG_LEVEL=TRACE`) to override it per
+environment without editing the file.
+
+You can also copy the following example file to prepare your own test-run configuration:
 
-- `/obp-api/src/main/resources/logback.xml.example` -> `/obp-api/src/main/resources/logback.xml` (try TRACE or DEBUG).
 - `/obp-api/src/main/resources/logback-test.xml.example` -> `/obp-api/src/main/resources/logback-test.xml` (try TRACE or DEBUG).
 
 There is a gist/tool which is useful for this. Search the web for SSLPoke. Note this is an external repository.
diff --git a/obp-api/src/main/resources/docs/brief_system_documentation.md b/obp-api/src/main/resources/docs/brief_system_documentation.md
index 08a7315b9c..3b7f2edce2 100644
--- a/obp-api/src/main/resources/docs/brief_system_documentation.md
+++ b/obp-api/src/main/resources/docs/brief_system_documentation.md
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ User ──(has roles/entitlements)──► Bank/System actions
 
 **Logging**
 
-- Copy `logback.xml.example` to `logback.xml`; adjust levels (TRACE/DEBUG/INFO) per environment.
+- `logback.xml` ships ready to use, defaulting to INFO; set `LOG_LEVEL` (TRACE/DEBUG/INFO/...) to override per environment.
 - In Docker/K8s, logs go to stdout/stderr → aggregate with your stack (e.g., Loki/Promtail, EFK).
 
 **Health & metrics**
diff --git a/obp-api/src/main/resources/logback.xml b/obp-api/src/main/resources/logback.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8044beb0bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/obp-api/src/main/resources/logback.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+<configuration>
+
+  <appender name="STDOUT" class="ch.qos.logback.core.ConsoleAppender">
+    <encoder>
+      <pattern>%d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss} %t %c{0} [%p] %m%n</pattern>
+    </encoder>
+  </appender>
+
+  <!-- LOG_LEVEL env var (or -DLOG_LEVEL= system property) overrides this; unset falls back to
+       INFO. Default is intentionally quiet, not DEBUG: DEBUG by default means every deployment
+       silently pays the cost of maximal log volume (including the per-message secret-masking
+       pass in SecureLogging) unless someone remembers to turn it down, an opt-out default that
+       is easy to forget. Verbose logging should be an explicit, per-environment opt-in instead. -->
+  <root level="${LOG_LEVEL:-INFO}">
+    <appender-ref ref="STDOUT"/>
+  </root>
+</configuration>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/obp-api/src/main/resources/logback.xml.example b/obp-api/src/main/resources/logback.xml.example
deleted file mode 100644
index 871aea062a..0000000000
--- a/obp-api/src/main/resources/logback.xml.example
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
-<configuration>
-
-  <appender name="STDOUT" class="ch.qos.logback.core.ConsoleAppender">
-    <encoder>
-      <pattern>%d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss} %t %c{0} [%p] %m%n</pattern>
-    </encoder>
-  </appender>
-
-  <root level="DEBUG">
-    <appender-ref ref="STDOUT"/>
-  </root>
-</configuration>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/obp-api/src/test/scala/bootstrap/http4s/LogbackDefaultLevelTest.scala b/obp-api/src/test/scala/bootstrap/http4s/LogbackDefaultLevelTest.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..527c81bfa5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/obp-api/src/test/scala/bootstrap/http4s/LogbackDefaultLevelTest.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+package bootstrap.http4s
+
+import ch.qos.logback.classic.{Level, Logger, LoggerContext}
+import ch.qos.logback.classic.joran.JoranConfigurator
+import ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.LoggerContextListener
+import org.scalatest.{BeforeAndAfterEach, FlatSpec, Matchers}
+import org.slf4j.Logger.ROOT_LOGGER_NAME
+
+/**
+ * Directly verifies the shipped src/main/resources/logback.xml resolves
+ * <root level="${LOG_LEVEL:-INFO}"> the way this fix depends on:
+ *
+ *   - LOG_LEVEL unset -> root defaults to INFO, not the old hard-coded DEBUG.
+ *   - LOG_LEVEL set -> root honours it.
+ *
+ * The application's actual SLF4J LoggerContext is configured once, at JVM start, from whatever
+ * LOG_LEVEL happened to be set at that moment -- so asserting against
+ * LoggerFactory.getILoggerFactory() here wouldn't exercise the default-value resolution at all,
+ * only whatever this test JVM's own environment happened to be. Instead this parses the actual
+ * classpath resource into a fresh, throwaway LoggerContext per scenario (via Joran, the same
+ * parser Logback uses internally), with the system property set immediately beforehand -- this is
+ * the standard way to unit-test a logback.xml's own logic rather than the ambient environment.
+ */
+class LogbackDefaultLevelTest extends FlatSpec with Matchers with BeforeAndAfterEach {
+
+  private val propertyName = "LOG_LEVEL"
+
+  override def afterEach(): Unit = {
+    System.clearProperty(propertyName)
+  }
+
+  private def rootLevelFromShippedConfig(): Level = {
+    val context = new LoggerContext()
+    context.reset()
+    val configurator = new JoranConfigurator()
+    configurator.setContext(context)
+    configurator.doConfigure(getClass.getClassLoader.getResource("logback.xml"))
+    context.getLogger(ROOT_LOGGER_NAME).getLevel
+  }
+
+  "the shipped logback.xml" should "default the root level to INFO when LOG_LEVEL is unset" in {
+    System.clearProperty(propertyName)
+    rootLevelFromShippedConfig() should equal(Level.INFO)
+  }
+
+  it should "honour LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG when set" in {
+    System.setProperty(propertyName, "DEBUG")
+    rootLevelFromShippedConfig() should equal(Level.DEBUG)
+  }
+
+  it should "honour LOG_LEVEL=WARN when set" in {
+    System.setProperty(propertyName, "WARN")
+    rootLevelFromShippedConfig() should equal(Level.WARN)
+  }
+}