Main drivers of the 2022 net profit and expectations for the future The Bank's gross profit, before tax and transfer to the general risk provision, decreased significantly, from € billion to € billion, mainly due to the € billion contraction in net interest income and the higher write-downs on securities valued at market price, especially in US dollars, by a further € billion.
The rise in the key ECB interest rates led to an immediate increase in the cost of balance sheet liabilities, mainly bank deposits and the negative TARGET balance. There was no corresponding increase in the yield on monetary policy assets, which are less sensitive to growth in interest rates, as they consist mainly of fixed-rate securities with medium to long-term maturities.