Sabine Mauderer: Presentation of the Deutsche Bundesbank's Annual Report 2023

Statement by Dr Sabine Mauderer, Member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank, at the press conference presenting the Annual Report 2023, Frankfurt am Main, 23 February 2024.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Check against delivery 

1 Introduction

Ladies and gentlemen,

I would be happy to now take a closer look at our annual accounts. So first things first, let's address the question of why the situation is as it is.

As the President has already said: The monetary policy measures taken in recent years have caused the financial risks on the balance sheets of central banks to rise significantly. And these risks materialised in 2023. 

Since 2020, increased asset purchases under the APP and PEPP programmes have added substantially to the interest rate risk on our balance sheet. These risks began to crystallise when key interest rates started rising in mid-2022. In 2023, this turned the Bank's interest rate spread negative overall for the first time. 

As a result of this, the Bundesbank sustained losses of around €21.6 billion in 2023. To offset these losses, the €19.2 billion in provisions for general risks that we had built up over the past years were released in full. The remaining loss was offset by releasing reserves in the amount of €2.4 billion. The bank is thus reporting a distributable profit of zero. Total assets are down overall. 

How did these developments impact on the annual accounts in 2023?