Statement from 8th meeting of the Bank Board of Národná banka Slovenska
The 8th meeting of the Bank Board of Národná banka Slovenska was held today (19 March 2013) and was chaired by Jozef Makúch, the NBS Governor.
The Bank Board approved a Decree of Národná banka Slovenska laying down the elements of applications for prior approval from Národná banka Slovenska made under Article 102(1) of Act No 566/2001 Coll. on securities and investment services and on amendments to certain laws (the Securities Act).
The Bank Board approved the audited financial statements of Národná banka Slovenska prepared as at 31 December 2012.
Národná banka Slovenska reported a profit of €199,439,000 for 2012 (compared to a loss of €76,734,000 for 2011). As decided by the Bank Board, the profit for 2012 will be used to reduce accumulated losses from previous years.
Based on a decision of the Bank Board, NBS established a general financial-risk reserve of €250,000,000 to cover exchange-rate, interest-rate and credit risks related to gold price movements (while these risks are monitored on a regular basis). This reserve is established in accordance with Guideline of the ECB on the legal framework for accounting and financial reporting in the European System of Central Banks (recast) (ECB/2010/20). The amount of this reserve will be reassessed annually.
The largest component of the 2012 profit was interest income from bonds, which amounted to €663,466,000 (compared to €629,631,000 in 2011). Net interest income on securities in the NBS investment portfolio stood at €558,834,000 (€556,566,000 in 2011), and net interest income on securities held for monetary-policy purposes amounted to €104,632,000 (€73,066,000 in 2011).
The net profit on financial operations was €168,124,000 (€115,700,000 in 2011), with profit on interest rate swaps accounting for €120,246,000 of that total (€117,131,000 in 2011).
The central bank’s loss on the valuation of financial assets and positions was lower in 2012 than in 2011 owing mainly to growth in the market price of securities held in the NBS investment portfolio.
The NBS result for 2012 included an income of €755,000 as a share in the net profit of the European Central Bank (compared to €1,697,000 in 2011) and an income of €5,694,000 as share in the preliminary redistribution of the ECB profit for 2012 (€6,461,000 in 2011). The net income of NBS from the redistribution of Eurosystem monetary income for 2012 was €84,748,000 (€15,408,000 in 2011). At the end of each financial year, the monetary income of the national central banks from the implementation of monetary policy tasks is redistributed among the NCBs in proportion to their paid-up shares in the capital of the ECB, in accordance with Article 33.2 of the Protocol on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank.
For the remuneration of its claim arising from the transfer to the ECB of foreign reserves amounting to €399,444,000, NBS received interest payments from the ECB amounting to €3,042,000 (€4,301,000 in 2011).
The net operating expenses of NBS fell by €4,499,000, i.e. by 8%, to €53,430,000 in 2012 (from €57,929,000 in 2011). Net expenses related to the production of euro banknotes and coins amounted to €1,483,000 (€5,868,000 in 2011).
In accordance with Article 39(5) of the NBS Act, the annual financial statements of Národná banka Slovenska, together with the independent auditor’s report and the NBS management report for 2012 will be submitted to the Slovak Parliament.
The annual financial statements of NBS and the independent auditors’ report will be included in the NBS Annual Report for 2012.
Petra Pauerová
NBS Spokesperson
National Bank of Slovakia
Press and Editorial Section
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