Balance sheet and profit and loss account for the financial year 2009
23/03/2010 - Press Releases
At its meeting on 23 March 2010, the General Council of the Bank of Greece approved the Bank’s audited Annual Accounts for the financial year ending 31 December 2009.
The Bank’s net profit for the year 2009 amounted to €228.2 million, compared with €225.1 million in 2008, having increased by 1.4%.
The relatively low rate of increase in net profit, despite the significant rise in net income by 41.3% and a 1.7% decrease in staff costs, was due to increased provisioning against future risks and other liabilities of the Bank.
The total dividend per share that will be proposed to the General Meeting of the Bank’s shareholders for distribution is €2.40, equal to the dividend distributed in 2008.
Analysis of the Profit and Loss Account for 2009
Income
The Bank’s total net income grew substantially to €1,139.5 million in 2009 from €806.2 million in 2008.
This increase was broadly based across all of the Bank’s income sources.
Specifically:
- The returns on the Bank’s portfolios remained high, despite the reduction of the main refinancing operation rate of the ECB,
- net income from commissions grew by 21.4%,
- income from equity shares and participating interests increased by 75.6% mainly due to increased income distributed by the European Central Bank
- net result of pooling of monetary income of the Eurosystem increased significantly to €53,4 million compared to a negative result of €134,7 million in the previous financial year.
Expenses
Total expenses increased by 56.8% to €911.3 million in 2009, from €581.1 million in 2008.
This development was mainly due to increased provisions against future risks and liabilities of the Bank and, to a lesser extent, a rise in depreciation.
Specifically:
Provisions were further increased in 2009 by €472.2 million to €1,953.5 million.
These provisions are intended to cover:
• possible foreign exchange and interest rate risks;
• credit risks;
• any other risks and liabilities potentially arising from the Bank's business;
• risks at Eurosystem level potentially arising from the Eurosystem's key task, which is to formulate and conduct monetary policy in the euro area;
• the Bank’s liabilities to the social security funds of its personnel.
Depreciation amounted to €59.8 million, from €27.8 million in 2008, recording an increase of 115%. This item consists mainly of depreciation of banknote production costs incurred in previous years.
By contrast, other operating expenses excluding provisions and depreciation (staff costs, pensions, administrative and other expenses) dropped by 1.4% to €379.3 million, from €384.5 million in 2008.