Tables

Gold reserves by storage location 

Receivables from the IMF

Balances with banks and security investments, external loans and other external assets

Net foreign exchange positions in selected currencies

Lending to euro area credit institutions related to monetary policy operations denominated in euro

Securities held for monetary policy purposes

Tangible and intangible assets

Own funds portfolio

Provisions

Discount rates and trends

Revaluation accounts

Net equity

Net interest income

Interest income from monetary policy portfolios

Net result of financial operations, write-downs and risk provisions

Net income from fees and commissions

Staff costs

Abbreviations and symbols
.     Figure not meaningful
0     Less than 0.5 but more than nil
–     Nil

Discrepancies in the totals are due to rounding.

Frankfurt am Main, 13 February 2024
 

DEUTSCHE BUNDESBANK
Executive Board
 

Dr Joachim Nagel
 

            Burkhard Balz                                            Dr Sabine Mauderer
 

To the Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt am Main

We have audited the annual financial statements of the Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt am Main, consisting of the balance sheet as at 31 December 2023 and the profit and loss account for the business year from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023.

In our opinion, based on the findings of our audit, the said annual financial statements comply, in all material respects, with the legal requirements and the principles for the accounting of the Deutsche Bundesbank approved by the Executive Board pursuant to Section 26(2) of the Bundesbank Act and give a true and fair view of the net assets and financial position of the Deutsche Bundesbank as at 31 December 2023 and the results of operations for the business year from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023 in accordance with German principles of proper accounting.

Pursuant to Section 322(3) sentence 1 of the German Commercial Code (Handelsgesetzbuch – HGB) in conjunction with Section 26(2) sentence 3 of the Bundesbank Act, we declare that our audit has not led to any reservations with regard to the regularity of the annual financial statements.

We conducted our audit of the annual financial statements in accordance with Section 317 HGB and German generally accepted standards for the audit of financial statements promulgated by the Institut der Wirtschaftsprüfer [Institute of Public Auditors in Germany] (IDW). Our responsibilities pursuant to these provisions and principles are further described in the “Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the annual financial statements” section of our report. We are independent of the Deutsche Bundesbank in accordance with German commercial and professional laws and regulations and have fulfilled our other German ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion on the annual financial statements.

The Executive Board is responsible for other information. Other information comprises all information in the Annual Report with the exception of the audited annual financial statements and the respective auditor’s report.

Our opinion on the annual financial statements does not cover this other information, and we therefore do not express an auditor’s opinion or draw any other form of audit conclusion regarding this other information.

In connection with our audit, we have the responsibility to read the other information and to evaluate whether

If we conclude, on the basis of our audit, that the other information contains a material misstatement, we are obliged to draw attention to this matter. We have nothing to report in this regard.

The Executive Board is responsible for the preparation of the annual financial statements in accordance with the legal requirements and the principles for the accounting of the Deutsche Bundesbank approved by the Executive Board pursuant to Section 26(2) of the Bundesbank Act and for ensuring that the annual financial statements give a true and fair view of the net assets, financial position and results of operations of the Deutsche Bundesbank in accordance with German principles of proper accounting. Moreover, the Executive Board is responsible for such internal control as it determines necessary in accordance with German principles of proper accounting to enable the preparation of annual financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud (i.e. the manipulation of accounting records and misappropriation of assets) or error.

In preparing the annual financial statements, the Executive Board is responsible for assessing the Deutsche Bundesbank’s ability to continue as a going concern. It is also responsible for disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going-concern basis of accounting, provided there are no factual or legal impediments thereto.

The Executive Board is responsible for overseeing the Deutsche Bundesbank’s financial reporting process for the preparation of the annual financial statements.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the annual financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion on the annual financial statements.

Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with Section 317 HGB and German generally accepted standards for the audit of financial statements promulgated by the Institut der Wirtschaftsprüfer will always detect a material misstatement. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these annual financial statements.

We exercise professional judgement and maintain professional scepticism throughout the audit. We also

We communicate with the Executive Board regarding, amongst other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that we identify during our audit.

Frankfurt am Main, 20 February 2024

Baker Tilly GmbH & Co. KG  
Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft       
(Düsseldorf)

Professor Thomas Edenhofer                            Ralph Hüsemann
Wirtschaftsprüfer                                               Wirtschaftsprüfer

Sections 26 and 27 of the Bundesbank Act (Gesetz über die Deutsche Bundesbank) form the legal basis for the annual accounts and distribution of profit. The provisions on accounting laid down in Section 26(2) sentence 2 of the Bundesbank Act allow the Bundesbank to apply the ECB’s accounting policies.

The Governing Council of the ECB adopted policies for the ECB’s annual accounts in accordance with Article 26.2 of the Statute of the ESCB. The Bundesbank decided to adopt these policies as its own accounting policies. 1 An overview of the Deutsche Bundesbank’s accounting policies can be found above. The annual accounts of the Bundesbank thus follow the harmonised accounting and financial reporting rules of Eurosystem operations, both in terms of the structure of the balance sheet and the profit and loss account, and with regard to the valuation and accounting policies applied.

The Bundesbank is furthermore required, pursuant to Section 26(4) sentence 1 of the Bundesbank Act, to prepare a cost account to assist it in its management and administrative tasks. In compliance with this legislation, the Bank draws up a standard cost account and an investment plan before the start of each financial year. The harmonised Eurosystem accounting policies for internal accounting adopted by the Governing Council of the ECB and compiled in the Committee on Controlling (COMCO) manual are also taken into account in this regard. At the end of the financial year, the Bank makes a comparative analysis of the budgeted figures and the actual costs and investment. This analysis is reviewed separately by the external auditors.

Pursuant to Section 253 of the German Commercial Code (Handelsgesetzbuch), provisions for post-employment benefit obligations must be discounted at the average market rate corresponding to their residual maturity calculated over the past ten financial years. The relief resulting from application of the ten-year rather than the seven-year observation period must be calculated annually and may not be distributed. In accordance with Section 253(6) sentence 2 of the Commercial Code, the distribution of profits shall be restricted to the part that exceeds the amount for which distribution is restricted less any disposable reserves. However, the Bundesbank does not have any such reserves. The amount for which distribution is restricted itself has to be treated as reserves, and transfers to them and withdrawals from them are taken to profit and loss once the profit or loss for the year has been determined as part of the appropriation of profit.

The ECB and the national central banks of the euro area countries, which together comprise the Eurosystem, issue banknotes denominated in euro. The following allocation procedure was approved for recognition of the euro banknotes in circulation in the financial statements of the individual central banks of the Eurosystem. 2 The respective share of the total value of euro banknotes in circulation due to each central bank in the Eurosystem is calculated on the last business day of each month in accordance with the key for allocating euro banknotes. The ECB is allocated an 8% share of the total value of the euro bank­notes in circulation, whereas the remaining 92% is allocated to the national central banks in proportion to their respective paid-up shares in the capital of the ECB. As at 31 December 2023, the Bundesbank had a 26.1% share in the fully paid-up capital of the ECB and, therefore, a 24.1% share of the euro banknotes in circulation in accordance with the banknote allo­cation key. The value of the Bundesbank’s share in the total amount of euro banknotes issued by the Eurosystem is shown in item 1 “Banknotes in circulation” on the lia­bilities side of the balance sheet.

The difference between the value of the euro banknotes allocated to each central bank of the Eurosystem in accordance with the banknote allocation key and the value of the euro banknotes that the central bank actually puts into circulation gives rise to remunerated intra-Eurosystem balances. 3 If the value of the euro banknotes actually issued is greater than the value according to the banknote allocation key, the difference is recorded on the balance sheet as an intra-Eurosystem liability in liability sub-item 9.2 “Net liabilities related to the allocation of euro banknotes within the Eurosystem”. If the value of the euro banknotes actually issued is less than the value according to the banknote allocation key, the difference is recorded in asset sub-item 9.3 “Net claims related to the allocation of euro banknotes within the Eurosystem”. These balances are remunerated at the respective rate on the main refinancing operations.

In the year of the cash changeover and in the following five years, the intra-Eurosystem balances arising from the allocation of euro banknotes within the Eurosystem are adjusted in order to avoid significant changes in national central banks’ relative income positions as compared to previous years. The adjustments are based on the difference between the average value of the banknotes that each national central bank had in circulation in the reference period and the average value of the banknotes that would have been allocated to each of them during that period in accordance with the ECB’s capital key. The adjustments are reduced in annual increments until the first day of the sixth year after the cash changeover year. Thereafter, income from euro banknotes in circulation is allocated fully in proportion to the national central banks’ paid-up shares in the ECB’s capital. The adjustment in the reporting year resulted from the accession of the Croatian National Bank with effect from 1 January 2023 and will expire accordingly with effect from 31 December 2028. The interest income and expense arising from the remuneration of the intra-Eurosystem balances is cleared through the accounts of the ECB and disclosed under item 1 “Net interest income” of the Bundesbank’s profit and loss account.

The ECB’s income from the 8% share of the euro banknotes in circulation as well as from securities purchased by the ECB as part of the securities markets programme (SMP), the third covered bond purchase programme (CBPP3), the asset-backed securities purchase programme (ABSPP) and the public sector purchase programme (PSPP) as well as the pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP) is distributed to the national central banks of the Eurosystem as interim profit in the same financial year in which the income arises, unless the ECB’s net profit is less than this income or the Governing Council of the ECB decides to retain the amount for allocation to the ECB risk provision. 4 The ECB is not reporting any profit but a loss for financial year 2023, so no interim profit was distributed. The ECB has reported a loss carryforward on its balance sheet for 2023, with the result that the ECB losses are not reflected in the Bundesbank’s annual accounts for 2023. That loss carryforward will, however, place a (pro rata) burden on future annual results of the Bundesbank because ECB profit distributions will not be made or because losses incurred by the ECB will be assumed by the national central banks in future periods (subject to a decision taken by the ECB Governing Council pursuant to Article 33.2 of the Statute of the ESCB).

Effective 1 January 2023, the Eurosystem grew in size as a result of the accession of the Croatian National Bank, which thereupon paid up its capital share in the ECB in full. This reduced the Bundesbank’s share in the fully paid-up capital of the ECB from 26.3615% to 26.1494%.

The provisions laid down under Article 29.3 of the Statute of the ESCB require the key for subscription to the ECB’s capital by the ESCB national central banks to be adjusted every five years. Accordingly, an adjustment was made to the ECB’s capital key with effect from the beginning of 2024. As a result of this adjustment, the Bundesbank’s share in the ECB’s subscribed capital increased with effect from 1 January 2024 from 21.4% to 21.8%, the Bundesbank’s share in the fully paid-up capital of the ECB went up from 26.1494% to 26.6301%, and the participating interest in the ECB (asset sub-item 9.1 "Participating interest in the ECB ") increased from a nominal €2,321 million to €2,357 million. The Bundesbank’s claim arising from the transfer of foreign reserves to the ECB (asset sub-item 9.2 “Claims equivalent to the transfer of foreign reserves to the ECB”) also grew, from €10,635 million to €10,802 million. 

The Executive Board prepared the Deutsche Bundesbank’s financial statements for financial year 2023 on 13 February 2024. The financial statements were audited by Baker Tilly GmbH & Co. KG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft (Düsseldorf), whom the Executive Board engaged as external auditors on 1 September 2020 in accordance with Section 26(3) of the Bundesbank Act. The auditors issued an unqualified audit opinion on 20 February 2024 confirming that the Bundesbank’s financial statements for 2023 – consisting of the balance sheet and the profit and loss account – comply, in all material respects, with the legal requirements and the accounting policies of the Deutsche Bundesbank approved by the Executive Board and give a true and fair view of the net assets, financial position and results of operations of the Deutsche Bundesbank. After studying the external auditors’ unqualified audit opinion, the Executive Board decided that publication of the financial statements would take place on 23 February 2024.

Table 1: Gold reserves by storage location

As at 31 December 2023, the Bundesbank’s physical holdings (bars) of fine gold amounted to 3,352,671 kg, or 108 million fine ounces (ozf). These are supplemented by an additional 4 kg of gold receivables that were generated by the settlement of margins in the context of gold transactions. The gold was valued at the market price at the end of the year (1 kg = €60,052.06, or 1 ozf = €1,867.828). Compared with the previous year’s price (1 kg = €54,851.58, or 1 ozf = €1,706.075), this represents an increase of 9.5%. The gold holdings declined by 0.1% (2,496 kg, or 0.1 million ozf) in the year under review. This was due to the sale of gold to the Federal Government at market prices for the purpose of minting gold coins. The resulting income of €135 million is shown in sub-item 2.1 “Realised gains/losses arising from financial operations” in the profit and loss account.  

This item comprises the receivables from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as well as balances with banks and security investments, loans and other foreign currency claims on non-euro area residents.

2.1 Receivables from the IMF

Sub-item 2.1 contains the receivables from the IMF which are financed and held by the Bundesbank and which arise from the Federal Republic of Germany’s membership of the IMF. The receivables, which total 47,338 million special drawing rights (SDRs) (€57,548 million), are made up of the drawing rights within the reserve tranche, the holdings of special drawing rights and loans under the New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB).

Table 2: Receivables from the IMF

The drawing rights within the reserve tranche correspond to the amounts actually paid to the IMF in gold, special drawing rights, foreign currency and national currency under the German quota. The drawing rights held in the reserve tranche represent the difference between the German quota of SDR 26,634 million (€32,379 million) and the euro balances amounting to €23,629 million (SDR 19,437 million) at the IMF’s disposal at the end of the year. In 2023, these declined on balance by SDR 253 million to SDR 7,198 million (€8,750 million).

Special drawing rights – by means of which freely usable currencies as per the IMF definition can be obtained at any time – in the amount of SDR 37,587 million were allocated free of charge. A corresponding counterpart is shown as liability item 8 “Counterpart of special drawing rights allocated by the IMF”. In 2023, the holdings of special drawing rights went up by SDR 1,313 million (€199 million).

The NAB are multilateral credit lines with the IMF, which serve as a backstop for use in the event of a systemic crisis. They were not activated by the IMF in 2023, which means that the Bundesbank was not drawn upon. The Bundesbank’s NAB credit line amounts to SDR 25.8 billion. At the end of the reporting year, this resulted in receivables from the IMF of SDR 26 million (€32 million) from earlier drawdowns. The new temporary bilateral credit line of €17.9 billion additionally pledged by the Bundesbank to the IMF as a further backstop was not drawn down, as adequate IMF liquidity was available. There were, therefore, no receivables arising from bilateral loans at the end of the year.

If all items on the assets side and the liabilities side of the balance sheet are taken into account, the net holdings of special drawing rights amounted to SDR 9,751 million, compared with SDR 8,788 million in the previous year. Valuation is based on the reference rate of SDR 1 = €1.2157 (2022: SDR 1 = €1.2517) calculated by the ECB at the end of the year for all central banks participating in the Eurosystem.

2.2 Balances with banks and security investments, external loans and other external assets

Balances with banks and security investments, loans and other foreign currency claims reported under sub-item 2.2 amounted to €33,376 million as at the end of 2023, compared with €34,406 million in the previous year. These include, in particular, US dollar holdings in the amount of US$32,098 million (€29,048 million), representing an increase of US$218 million on the year. The sub-item also contains holdings in yen (¥202,774 million, equivalent to €1,297 million), Australian dollar (A$1,819 million, equivalent to €1,118 million), Canadian dollar (C$2,393 million, equivalent to €1,634 million) and Chinese yuan (renminbi) (2,157 million yuan, equivalent to €275 million), and a small amount of other currencies. The holdings are interest-bearing. The foreign currency holdings were valued at the respective end-of-year market rate.

Table 3: Balances with banks and security investments, external loans and other external assets

Table 4: Net foreign exchange positions in selected currencies

In 2022, this item contained €38 million worth of US dollar claims on credit institutions resulting from refinancing operations in the context of the standing swap agreement between the ECB and the Federal Reserve Bank (Fed). There are no such claims as at year-end 2023. The provision of US dollar liquidity results in TARGET liabilities to the ECB, which reduce the TARGET claim reported in asset sub-item 9.4 “Other claims within the Eurosystem (net)”.

This item shows the loans amounting to €2,939 million granted to foreign central banks as part of the ECB’s liquidity lines (2022: €2,925 million). These bilateral swap and repo lines cover the euro liquidity needs of financial institutions in non-euro area countries via their central banks. Claims on non-euro area counterparties arising from bilateral repo transactions amounting to €2,214 million (2022: €461 million) are also shown in this item. These claims resulted from reverse repos transacted simultaneously with repos, in which securities in the PSPP portfolio as well as PEPP public sector holdings are lent against Federal securities on a cash-neutral basis; the transactions have a maximum term of seven days. The corresponding liabilities from the repos are shown under liability item 5 “Liabilities to non-euro area residents denominated in euro”.

Table 5: Lending to euro area credit institutions related to monetary policy operations denominated in euro

The volume and structure of the liquidity-providing monetary policy operations carried out by the Bundesbank as part of the Eurosystem (main and longer-term refinancing operations and the marginal lending facility) are shown in this item. As at the end of the reporting year, the outstanding volume of the Eurosystem’s monetary policy operations amounted to €410,290 million (2022: €1,324,347 million), of which the Bundesbank accounted for €72,259 million (2022: €237,502 million). Pursuant to Article 32.4 of the Statute of the ESCB, risks from these operations, provided they materialise, are shared among the Eurosystem national central banks in proportion to the prevailing shares in the capital of the ECB. Losses arise only if the counterparty to a monetary policy operation defaults and the collateral it has provided proves insufficient upon realisation.

Main refinancing operations are regular weekly transactions with a standard one-week maturity, the purpose of which is to provide liquidity. In the reporting year, main refinancing operations continued to be conducted as fixed rate tenders with full allotment. At the end of the year, the main refinancing operations amounted to €2,744 million, which was €1,634 million more than at the end of the previous year. On a daily average, the outstanding volume of main refinancing operations came to €820 million (2022: €334 million).

In the year under review, the regular longer-term refinancing operations with maturities of three months were carried out as fixed rate tenders with full allotment at the average main refinancing rate. As at 31 December 2023, take-up of these totalled €317 million (2022: €267 million).

In addition, targeted longer-term refinancing operations from the third series (TLTRO III), which each have a term of three years, were carried out between September 2019 and December 2021. The interest on these operations is charged at an individual rate geared to the respective counterparty’s eligible net lending. This rate lies between the average main refinancing rate and deposit facility rate prevailing over the life of the respective operation. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, the Governing Council of the ECB decided to lower the minimum interest rate over the period from 24 June 2020 to 23 June 2022 to 50 basis points below the deposit facility rate, but in any case to a maximum of ‑1%. Furthermore, the Governing Council decided on 27 October 2022 to index the interest rate on all outstanding TLTRO III operations to the average applicable key ECB interest rates over the period from 23 November 2022 until their maturity date or early repayment date and to offer three additional voluntary early repayment dates. After the maturing of the first six operations and early repayments in the reporting year, the outstanding volume at the end of the year totalled €69,198 million (2022: €235,306 million).

Furthermore, additional pandemic emergency longer-term refinancing operations (PELTROs) were conducted in 2020 and 2021 as fixed rate tenders with full allotment at an interest rate that is 25 basis points below the average rate applied in main refinancing operations over the life of the respective PELTRO; the last of these operations matured in January 2023 (2022: €300 million).

The total volume of longer-term refinancing operations outstanding at year-end 2023 came to €69,515 million, which was €166,358 million below the figure at the end of 2022; on a daily average, the volume amounted to €157,612 million (2022: €399,759 million).

The marginal lending facility is a standing facility which counterparties may use to obtain overnight liquidity at a pre-specified interest rate. At the end of 2023, no recourse was made to this facility (2022: €519 million). Average daily use came to €67 million (2022: €12 million).

This item, amounting to €5,824 million (2022: €8,294 million), consists, in particular, of claims on euro area counterparties arising from bilateral repo transactions amounting to €4,424 million (2022: €6,296 million). These claims resulted from reverse repos transacted simultaneously with repos, in which securities in the PSPP portfolio as well as PEPP public sector holdings are lent against Federal securities on a cash-neutral basis; the transactions have a maximum term of seven days. The corresponding liabilities from the repos are shown under liability item 3 “Other liabilities to euro area credit institutions denominated in euro”. This item also includes fixed-term deposits held at credit institutions amounting to €1,400 million (2022: €1,999 million), which arise from funds received in connection with central bank services (see liability item 5 “Liabilities to non-euro area residents denominated in euro”).

Table 6: Securities held for monetary policy purposes

This item contains the holdings of securities denominated in euro resulting from purchases made within the framework of the Eurosystem purchase programmes announced by the ECB Governing Council, which are shown under sub-item 7.1 “Securities held for monetary policy purposes”. These holdings are carried at amortised cost, irrespective of whether the securities are held to maturity. With net asset purchases under the asset purchase programme (APP, with the individual sub-programmes CBPP3, PSPP, CSPP and ABSPP) already having been discontinued in mid-2022, these holdings were gradually reduced between March 2023 and the end of June 2023, in line with the Governing Council’s decision of 2 February 2023 (by an average of €15 billion per month for the Eurosystem). On 15 June 2023, the Governing Council decided that it would discontinue reinvestments under the APP as of July 2023. Furthermore, the Governing Council decided on 18 March 2020 to launch a new temporary €750 billion pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP) until the end of 2020, covering all the assets eligible under the APP. The Governing Council’s decisions of 4 June 2020 and 10 December 2020 increased the overall envelope for the PEPP to a total of up to €1,850 billion, whilst its decision of 16 December 2021 reduced net asset purchases under the PEPP in the first quarter of 2022 and discontinued them at the end of March 2022. The Bundesbank’s holdings under the securities markets programme (SMP) reached maturity in the reporting year.

As at year-end, the Eurosystem national central banks’ SMP holdings amounted to €1,901 million (2022: €2,143 million), their CBPP3 holdings to €262,090 million (2022: €276,857 million), their CSPP holdings to €323,921 million (2022: €344,119 million) and their PSPP holdings of securities issued by supranational institutions (of which the Bundesbank itself did not acquire any holdings) to €255,261 million (2022: €275,228 million). As at 31 December 2023, the Eurosystem national central banks’ PEPP holdings amounted to €5,197 million in the covered bonds portfolio (2022: €5,283 million), to €45,989 million in the corporate sector portfolio (2022: €46,074 million) and to €154,332 million (2022: €145,687 million) in the portfolio of securities issued by supranational institutions (of which the Bundesbank itself did not acquire any holdings). Consistent with Article 32.4 of the Statute of the ESCB, all risks from the SMP, CBPP3, CSPP and the above-mentioned PSPP and PEPP holdings, provided they materialise, are shared among the Eurosystem national central banks in proportion to the prevailing shares in the capital of the ECB, as is the case with the income received. Risks and income resulting from the government bonds purchased under the PSPP and PEPP (including regional government bonds and bonds issued by eligible agencies located in the euro area), on the other hand, are borne or are collected, respectively, by the individual national central banks holding these bonds. For its PSPP and PEPP public sector portfolio, the Bundesbank purchases only bonds issued by German issuers.

The Governing Council of the ECB decided that there was no need to recognise any impairment losses on securities contained in the SMP, CSPP, PSPP, CBPP3 and PEPP portfolios as at 31 December 2023 (with the exception of one PEPP corporate sector security), as it is expected that all payment obligations relating to the bonds and debt securities contained in Eurosystem central banks’ holdings will continue to be met as agreed. The Bundesbank’s share in the Eurosystem provision for monetary policy operations decided by the Governing Council owing to the need to recognise an impairment loss on the above-mentioned PEPP corporate sector security is disclosed under liability item 12 “Provisions” and amounts to €11 million.

This item shows the equalisation claims on the Federal Government and the non-interest-bearing debt register claim in respect of Berlin; both date back to the currency reform of 1948. They form the balance sheet counterpart of the amounts paid out at that time in cash per capita and per enterprise and of the initial provision of credit institutions and public corporations with central bank money. Equalisation claims yield interest at a rate of 1% per annum. In conjunction with Article 123 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (the Lisbon Treaty), it has been stipulated that the equalisation claims and the debt register claim are to be redeemed in ten annual instalments, starting in 2024.

The Bundesbank’s claims on the ECB and on the national central banks participating in the Eurosystem are consolidated in this item.

Sub-item 9.1 shows the Bundesbank’s participating interest in the ECB. Pursuant to Article 28 of the Statute of the ESCB, the ESCB national central banks are the sole subscribers to the capital of the ECB. The Bundesbank’s participating interest in the ECB amounted to a nominal €2,321 million as at 31 December 2023; including the Bundesbank’s share of the ECB’s net equity, effective from 1 February 2020, it came to €2,578 million (see “General information on the annual accounts”).

Sub-item 9.2 contains the Bundesbank’s euro-denominated claims equivalent to the transfer of foreign reserves to the ECB. At the beginning of 1999, the central banks participating in the Eurosystem transferred foreign reserve assets (15% in gold and 85% in foreign currency) to the ECB in accordance with Article 30 of the Statute of the ESCB. Adjustments to the key for subscription of the ECB’s capital also result in adjustments to the Bundesbank’s claims equivalent to the transfer of foreign reserves to the ECB. As at 31 December 2023, these claims amounted to €10,635 million, unchanged from the previous year. As the transferred gold does not earn any interest, the claims are remunerated at 85% of the prevailing main refinancing rate.

Sub-item 9.3 “Net claims related to the allocation of euro banknotes within the Eurosystem” shows the claims which arise from applying the euro banknote allocation key. As in 2022, the Bundesbank did not have a claim as at the end of 2023 but a liability, which is shown in liability sub-item 9.2 “Net liabilities related to the allocation of euro banknotes within the Eurosystem”.

The cross-border payments processed in TARGET result in the automatic and direct creation of a single liability to, or claim on, the ECB at the end of each business day. As at the end of the year, the Bundesbank’s claim on the ECB was €175,705 million lower at €1,093,371 million, which is contained in sub-item 9.4 “Other claims within the Eurosystem (net)”. This is remunerated at the respective main refinancing rate, with the exception of the unremunerated intra-Eurosystem liabilities resulting from the swap transactions between the ECB and the Bundesbank (see asset item 3 “Claims on euro area residents denominated in foreign currency”). On a daily average, the remunerated claim amounted to €1,086,088 million (2022: €1,193,119 million). This item also contains liabilities of €5,182 million arising from the allocation of monetary income among the national central banks (see profit and loss item 5 “Net result of pooling of monetary income”).

This item contains the asset items arising from payments still being processed within the Bundesbank.

The Bundesbank’s holdings of euro coins are shown in sub-item 11.1 “Coins”. New coins are received from the Federal mints at their nominal value for the account of the Federal Government, which holds the coin prerogative.

Table 7: Tangible and intangible assets

Sub-item 11.2 “Tangible and intangible fixed assets” amounted to €795 million, compared with €863 million in the previous year. It comprises land and buildings, furniture and equipment including computer equipment, and software.

Table 8: Own funds portfolio

Sub-item 11.3 “Other financial assets” amounted to €10,258 million, compared with €10,003 million in the previous year. It contains the Bundesbank’s own funds portfolio as a counterpart to its capital, reserves and long-term provisions for civil servant pensions and healthcare assistance. The own funds portfolio is invested not in government securities but exclusively in fixed rate covered bonds denominated in euro, which are generally held to maturity and are, therefore, valued at amortised cost.

This item also includes €51 million in participating interests held by the Bundesbank. The Bundesbank’s participating interest in the Bank for International Settlements, Basel, was unchanged at €50 million as at the end of the year; it holds 50,100 shares, with 25% of their par value being paid-in capital. As in the previous year, the participating interest in the cooperative society S.W.I.F.T., La Hulpe (Belgium), amounted to €1 million.

Claims on euro area counterparties other than credit institutions arising from bilateral repo transactions amounting to €2,844 million (2022: €983 million) are also shown in this item. These claims resulted from reverse repos transacted simultaneously with repos, in which securities in the PSPP portfolio as well as PEPP public sector holdings are lent against Federal securities on a cash-neutral basis; the transactions have a maximum term of seven days. The corresponding liabilities from the repos are shown under liability sub-item 4.2 “Other liabilities”.

Sub-item 11.5 “Accruals and prepaid expenditure” contains accruals and prepaid expenditure as at 31 December 2023. This chiefly consists of (accrued) interest income due in the new financial year from securities, the TARGET claim on the ECB and refinancing operations for credit institutions acquired or transacted in the financial year just ended.

The total value of euro banknotes issued by the central banks of the Eurosystem is distributed among these banks on the last business day of each month in accordance with the key for allocating euro banknotes (see “General information on the annual accounts”). According to the banknote allocation key applied as at 31 December 2023, the Bundesbank has a 24.1% share of the value of all the euro banknotes in circulation. During the year under review, the total value of banknotes in circulation within the Eurosystem declined from €1,572.0 billion to €1,567.7 billion, or by 0.3%. Taking into account the allocation key, the Bundesbank had euro banknotes in circulation worth €377,036 million as at the end of the year, compared with €381,257 million a year previously. The value of the euro banknotes actually issued by the Bundesbank increased in 2023 by 2.3% from €900,109 million to €920,705 million. As this was more than the allocated amount, the difference of €543,670 million (2022: €518,852 million) is shown in liability sub-item 9.2 “Net liabilities related to the allocation of euro banknotes within the Eurosystem”.

Sub-item 2.1 “Current accounts” contains the deposits of credit institutions, amounting to €52,994 million (2022: €66,583 million), which are also used to meet the minimum reserve requirement and to settle payments. The main criterion for including these deposits in this sub-item is that the relevant counterparties appear in the list of institutions which are subject to the Eurosystem’s minimum reserve regulations. The balances held to fulfil the minimum reserve requirement amounted to €45,106 million on an annual average. In the reporting year, these balances were remunerated at the deposit facility rate applicable in the respective maintenance period up until 19 September 2023 and subsequently, in accordance with the ECB Governing Council’s decision of 27 July 2023, at 0%; balances on current accounts in excess of the minimum reserve requirement have already been remunerated at 0% since July 2022. On a daily average, current account deposits decreased from €807,856 million in 2022 to €50,217 million in 2023.

Sub-item 2.2 “Deposit facility”, amounting to €1,056,837 million (2022: €1,132,287 million), contains overnight deposits remunerated at the deposit facility rate. On a daily average, the deposit facility amounted to €1,203,610 million, compared with €533,846 million in 2022.

Sub-item 2.5 “Deposits related to margin calls” contains cash collateral deposited by credit institutions in order to increase underlying assets. As at 31 December 2023, this item contained holdings of €24 million (2022: €1,184 million).

This item contains, in particular, liabilities to euro area credit institutions arising from bilateral repo transactions cleared centrally via Eurex. In these transactions, securities in the PSPP portfolio as well as PEPP public sector holdings are lent against cash as collateral, or in the case of simultaneous reverse repos, against Federal securities on a cash-neutral basis; the transactions have a maximum term of seven days. As at the end of the year, securities lending against cash as collateral gave rise to liabilities in the amount of €8,957 million (2022: €13,942 million), and securities lending against Federal securities resulted in liabilities of €4,424 million (2022: €6,296 million); the corresponding claims are reported in asset item 6 “Other claims on euro area credit institutions denominated in euro”. This item also includes account balances of credit institutions in the amount of €182 million (2022: €241 million), which are exempt from minimum reserve requirements due to the imposition of freezing orders. In addition, this item contains liabilities in the amount of €955 million (2022: €810 million) arising from account balances pledged for deposit protection pursuant to the Deposit Guarantee Act (Einlagensicherungsgesetz) in conjunction with the Regulation on the Financing of the Compensation Scheme (Entschädigungseinrichtungs-Finanzierungsverordnung).

Sub-item 4.1 “General government deposits” encompasses the balances of the Federal Government, its special funds, the state governments, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and other public depositors (social security funds and local governments). On 31 December 2023, general government deposits amounted to €25,955 million in all (2022: €132,215 million). On a daily average, the volume amounted to €48,959 million (2022: €170,603 million).

Sub-item 4.2 “Other liabilities” amounted to €18,454 million, compared with €45,418 million a year earlier. It mainly comprises deposits of other financial service providers. In addition, liabilities to euro area counterparties other than credit institutions arising from bilateral repo transactions were included in this sub-item as at 31 December 2023. In these repo transactions, securities in the PSPP portfolio as well as PEPP public sector holdings are lent against cash as collateral, or in the case of simultaneous reverse repos, against Federal securities on a cash-neutral basis; the transactions have a maximum term of seven days. As at the end of the year, securities lending against cash as collateral gave rise to liabilities in the amount of €4 million (2022: €1,269 million), and securities lending against Federal securities resulted in liabilities of €2,844 million (2022: €983 million); the corresponding claims are reported in asset sub-item 11.3 “Other financial assets”. On a daily average, the sub-item amounted to €21,394 million (2022: €54,410 million).

This balance sheet item, amounting to €161,000 million (2022: €333,608 million), contains the balances of non-euro area central banks, monetary authorities, international organisations and commercial banks held, inter alia, to settle payments. On a daily average, the volume amounted to €114,208 million (2022: €216,055 million). As at 31 December 2023, deposits of €134,348 million were attributable to non-euro area central banks and monetary authorities, of which €77,202 million was attributable to central banks within the European Union. This item also includes fixed-term deposits of central banks accepted as part of the Bundesbank’s central bank services amounting to €1,400 million (2022: €1,999 million), which are then invested in the money market (see asset item 6 “Other claims on euro area credit institutions denominated in euro”). Liabilities to non-euro area counterparties arising from bilateral repo transactions are also recorded in this item. In these repo transactions, securities in the PSPP portfolio as well as PEPP public sector holdings are lent against cash as collateral, or in the case of simultaneous reverse repos, against Federal securities on a cash-neutral basis; the transactions have a maximum term of seven days. As at the end of the year, securities lending against cash as collateral gave rise to liabilities in the amount of €4,985 million (2022: €7,939 million), and securities lending against Federal securities resulted in liabilities of €2,214 million (2022: €461 million); the corresponding claims are reported in asset item 4 “Claims on non-euro area residents denominated in euro”.

This item contains, in particular, deposits on foreign currency accounts of the Federal Government.

Foreign currency-denominated liabilities to banks outside the euro area are recorded in this item. These are liabilities in US dollars, amounting to €31 million, which have arisen from repos (previous year: no liabilities).

The counterpart of the special drawing rights (SDRs) allocated by the IMF free of charge corresponds to the allocations of SDRs to the Federal Republic of Germany from 1970 to 1972, from 1979 to 1981, in 2009 and in 2021, which together totalled SDR 37,587 million (see asset sub-item 2.1 “Receivables from the IMF”).

The Bundesbank’s liabilities to the ECB and to the other central banks participating in the Eurosystem are consolidated in this item.

Sub-item 9.1 contains “Liabilities related to the issuance of ECB debt certificates”. The ECB issued no debt certificates in 2023.

Sub-item 9.2 “Net liabilities related to the allocation of euro banknotes within the Eurosystem” contains the liabilities arising from the application of the euro banknote allocation key (see liability item 1 “Banknotes in circulation”). As at the end of the year, these liabilities amounted to €543,670 million in total (2022: €518,852 million). The 8% share of the total value of euro banknotes in circulation attributable to the ECB (€1,567.2 billion) resulted in a liability of €32,786 million for the Bundesbank (according to its capital share of 26.1%). In addition, the difference between the Bundesbank’s actual banknote issuance of €920,705 million and its arithmetical share (again according to the capital share) in the allocation of the remaining 92% of euro banknotes in circulation to the balance sheets of the national central banks resulted in a liability of €510,884 million. The reason for the size of this liability was the Bundesbank’s still disproportionately high share of banknote issuance (58.7%), which is largely due to net outflows of banknotes to other countries.

The net liabilities arising from other assets and liabilities within the Eurosystem would be shown in sub-item 9.3 “Other liabilities within the Eurosystem (net)”. As at the end of 2023, the Bundesbank had a net claim, which is shown on the assets side under sub-item 9.4 “Other claims within the Eurosystem (net)” and outlined there.

This item contains the liability items arising from payments still being processed within the Bundesbank.

Sub-item 11.2 “Accruals and income collected in advance” contains the accrued and collected income as at 31 December 2023. This consists mainly of (accrued) interest expenses which are due in a future financial year but were incurred in a previous financial year in connection with the allocation of banknotes within the Eurosystem.

Sub-item 11.3 “Sundry” comprises the liabilities arising from Deutsche Mark banknotes still in circulation. Deutsche Mark banknotes are no longer legal tender. However, the Bundesbank has publicly undertaken to redeem Deutsche Mark banknotes that are still in circulation for an indefinite period. The Deutsche Mark banknotes still in circulation belong to the series BBk I/Ia and BBk III/IIIa and as at the end of 2023 totalled €2,902 million. The banknote series BBk I/Ia accounted for €1,175 million of this total and the banknote series BBk III/IIIa €1,727 million. Taking into account the partial derecognitions in 2004 and 2021 and the deposits that have been made in the meantime, the liability arising from the Deutsche Mark banknotes still in circulation amounted to €431 million (2022: €446 million) as at the reporting date. Deposits of Deutsche Mark banknotes in 2023 totalled €20 million, of which €15 million consisted of the BBk III/IIIa series banknotes and €4 million of the BBk I/Ia series banknotes (see profit and loss item 11 “Other expenses”).

This item includes the provisions for general risks laid down in Section 26(2) of the Bundesbank Act, the provision for monetary policy operations pursuant to the Eurosystem’s accounting principles and provisions pursuant to regulations set forth in the Commercial Code.

Table 9: Provisions

The provisions for general risks are created pursuant to the regulations governing the Bundesbank’s annual accounts laid down in Section 26(2) of the Bundesbank Act. They are established to hedge against general risks associated with domestic and foreign business. The level of funds to be allocated to the provisions for general risks is reviewed annually using value-at-risk and expected shortfall calculations, amongst others. These calculations consider the holdings of risk-bearing assets, their risk content, foreseeable changes to the risk situation, expected financial conditions in the coming year and the statutory reserves. The Bundesbank’s risks, which are determined using a model-based approach, relate, in particular, to exchange rate risk, default risk from the asset purchase programmes and credit risk arising from refinancing loans as well as interest rate risk.

Since the beginning of 2020, the risk level has increased strongly due to the pandemic. The main reason for the increase was higher interest rate risk and credit risk stemming from the APP and from the PEPP, which was launched in March 2020. The Bundesbank did not distribute any profits in 2020 and 2021 as the strong increase in risk made it necessary to build up risk provisioning as much as possible. As a first step, €2,424 million was therefore added to the provisions for general risks in 2020, and a further €1,346 million was added in 2021 as a second step. A further increase was announced for 2022, but there was a reduction of €972 million owing to the materialisation of interest rate risk in foreign currency and euro. In the reporting year, losses arising from the materialisation of interest rate risk in euro increased massively owing to the further rise in key interest rates; the provisions for general risks in the amount of €19,199 million were therefore released in full to offset the losses.

In accordance with the Eurosystem’s accounting principles, the Governing Council of the ECB decided to set aside a provision of €43 million for the required impairment of one PEPP corporate sector security. Consistent with Article 32.4 of the Statute of the ESCB, provisions for monetary policy operations are funded by each national central bank in the Eurosystem according to its capital share. The Bundesbank’s €11 million share in this provision was offset against profit and loss item 5 “Net result of pooling of monetary income”.

Provisions for post-employment benefit obligations (direct pension commitments and indirect pension commitments as a result of the Bundesbank’s obligation to act as guarantor for pension payments out of the supplementary pension funds for public sector employees) as well as for healthcare subsidy commitments to civil servants are valued on the basis of actuarial expert opinions prepared using current mortality tables (Heubeck 2018 G mortality tables) according to the entry age normal method (Teilwertverfahren) (for current staff) and the present value method (Barwertverfahren) (for pensioners and ex-civil servants with portable pension entitlements), taking into account discount rates and trends. The discount rate used for post-employment benefit obligations is, in each case, a matched-maturity average market interest rate for the past ten years or, for healthcare subsidy commitments to civil servants, for the past seven years pursuant to the Regulation on the Discounting of Provisions (Rückstellungsabzinsungsverordnung).

Table 10: Discount rates and trends

Pursuant to Section 253(6) of the Commercial Code, the amount saved by applying the ten-year rather than the seven-year period for calculating the average market interest rate for post-employment benefit obligations is subject to a restriction on distribution. In 2022, the ten-year rate (1.82%) and the seven-year rate (1.43%) resulted in an interest margin of 39 basis points, representing a difference of €541 million. In 2023, the interest margin came to a smaller 16 basis points (1.78% versus 1.62%), which resulted in a lower saving of €246 million. The difference of €295 million has to be withdrawn from reserves pursuant to Section 253(6) of the Commercial Code (see “General information on the annual accounts” and liability item 14 “Capital and reserves” and profit and loss item 12 "Allocation to/withdrawal from reserves").

Provisions for the partial retirement scheme and for payment commitments arising from staff restructuring schemes that had already been carried out as at the reporting date are valued based on actuarial expert opinions prepared using current mortality tables according to the present value method, or according to the entry age normal method in the case of the outstanding settlement amount for the partial retirement scheme, taking into account discount rates and trends. The discount rate is based on a matched-maturity average market interest rate for the past seven years pursuant to the Regulation on the Discounting of Provisions.

The other provisions are created for remaining holiday entitlement, overtime worked and positive balances of flexible working hours and long-term working hours accounts as well as for other uncertain liabilities.

Expenses in the amount of €160 million from marking up the provisions (including the effects of the change in the discount rates) are contained in profit and loss sub-item 1.2 “Interest expense”. Profit and loss item 7 “Staff costs” shows a net allocation of €1,047 million, with a total allocated amount of €1,362 million standing against a total utilisation of €315 million. Other changes in provisioning gave rise, on balance, to relief of €10 million in profit and loss item 11 “Other expenses” and to an allocation of €11 million in profit and loss item 8 “Administrative expenses”. The reversal of provisions resulted in income of €36 million in profit and loss item 6 “Other income”.

This item contains the disclosed hidden reserves from the initial valuation at the time of the changeover to market valuation as at 1 January 1999 (revaluation items “old”) and the unrealised gains arising from market valuation as at 31 December 2023 (revaluation items “new”).

Table 11: Revaluation accounts

Revaluation items “old”

A revaluation item “old” now remains only for gold. This item represents the difference between the market value of gold as at 1 January 1999 and the lower book value of gold prior to that date. On the balance sheet as at 31 December 1998, the book value for gold was 1 ozf = DEM 143.8065 (€73.5271), while the market value as at 1 January 1999 was 1 ozf = €246.368. Although the valuation gains arising from the initial valuation of the gold holdings are not eligible for distribution, they will be released under certain circumstances. Besides being released in the case of devaluations, a proportionate release will also take place in the event of net reductions if the end-of-year gold holdings are below their lowest end-of-year level since 1999.

The reduction of 2,496 kg or 0.1 million ozf in the gold holdings resulted in the release of €14 million in the year under review, which was taken to profit and loss sub-item 2.1 “Realised gains/losses arising from financial operations”.

Revaluation items “new”

The revaluation items “new” show, for the gold holdings, the net positions in each foreign currency and the securities portfolios in each category of security (securities identification number), the positive difference in each case between the market value on 31 December 2023 and their value at average amortised cost since 1 January 1999.

As regards gold, this acquisition cost is 1 ozf = €246.369. As at the end of 2023, the market value of the gold position exceeded its acquisition value, leading to a revaluation item of €174,779 million (2022: €157,460 million). In the case of the net foreign exchange positions in US dollars, SDRs, Canadian dollars and Chinese yuan (renminbi), the market values at year-end were also above their acquisition values (€1 = US$1.2472, €1 = SDR 1.2061, €1 = C$1.5480 and €1 = 7.9699 yuan), resulting in revaluation items. As at the end of the year, the market values of the net foreign exchange positions in Japanese yen and in Australian dollars were below the respective acquisition values (€1 = ¥144.31 and €1 = A$1.6193), meaning that a valuation loss was incurred (see profit and loss sub-item 2.2 “Write-downs on financial assets and positions”).

The valuation gains on foreign currency-denominated securities shown on the balance sheet result predominantly from US Treasury notes (€209 million). However, for a portion of the US Treasury notes, the relevant acquisition values were higher than their corresponding market values on the reporting date, resulting in valuation losses of €35 million (see profit and loss sub-item 2.2 “Write-downs on financial assets and positions”). In principle, securities denominated in euro are carried at amortised cost. Marking to market would result in valuation losses of €97,765 million (2022: €139,411 million), mostly from government bonds held for monetary policy purposes (PEPP public sector securities and PSPP) and valuation gains of €1,151 million (2022: €6 million).

In accordance with Section 2 of the Bundesbank Act, the Bank’s capital, amounting to €2.5 billion, is owned by the Federal Republic of Germany. As at 31 December 2023, the statutory reserves pursuant to the Bundesbank Act were no longer, as they had been in the previous year, at the fixed upper limit of €2.5 billion laid down in Section 27 No 1 of the Bundesbank Act, but have been reduced by €2,086 million to €414 million after being used to offset the loss for 2023. The difference arising from the discounting of post-employment benefit obligations, which is subject to a restriction on distribution pursuant to Section 253(6) of the Commercial Code (see “General information on the annual accounts”, liability item 12 “Provisions” and profit and loss item 12 “Allocation to/withdrawal from reserves”), fell by €295 million. Pursuant to Section 253(6) of the Commercial Code, this amount was withdrawn from reserves, which thus amounted to €246 million compared with €541 million in the previous year.

Table 12: Net equity

The Bundesbank's net equity according to the ECB’s definition amounted to €200.3 billion and – following the full release of the provisions for general risks contained in liability item 12 “Provisions” – comprised capital and reserves in the combined total of €3.2 billion and liability item 13 “Revaluation accounts” in the amount of €197.1 billion as at the end of 2023.

The profit and loss account for 2023 closed with a loss for the year of €2,381 million (2022: loss of €172 million). A withdrawal of €295 million was made from reserves on account of the restriction on distribution pursuant to Section 253(6) of the Commercial Code (2022: €172 million; see “General information on the annual accounts” and liability item 12 “Provisions”) and €2,086 million was withdrawn from the reserves pursuant to Section 27 No 1 of the Bundesbank Act, resulting in a balanced financial result overall (see profit and loss item 12 “Allocation to/withdrawal from reserves”).