ANKARA
The European Central Bank said that its net profit for last year was down to €989 million from €1.44 billion a year earlier.
“The decrease was mainly due to the lower interest income on banknotes as a result of the lower average rate on the main refinancing operations; a decrease in the net interest income from the Securities Markets Program owing to redemptions; and (c) the higher operating expenses,” the bank said in a statement on Thursday.
The bank’s income derives mainly from investment earnings on its foreign reserves portfolio and own funds portfolio, from interest income on its 8 percent share of the total euro banknotes in circulation and, in recent years, from net interest income arising from securities purchased for monetary policy purposes.
The Central Bank’s net interest income also fell to €1.536 billion in 2014 from €2.005 billion euros in 2013, it said.
Personnel costs rose to €301 million from €241 million as employee numbers gradually increased over the year owing to the preparations for the launch of the Single Supervisory Mechanism -- the central bank's role in supervising Member State banks.
The bank said it would distribute all of the profit of 989 million euros to the national central banks in the eurozone.
