Financial Results The Bank’s profits for 2002 amounted to € million, an increase of € million over 2001. Of this increase, € million arose from the write-off of unredeemed Irish pound banknotes. Bank profits since 2000 have been exceptionally high primarily due to net exchange rate gains; these amounted to € million in 2002.
We had a successful year managing the Bank’s large investment portfolio of € billion. This yielded a rate of return of 5.47 per cent, a little more than that on the benchmark portfolio. This rate of return does not include exchange rate gains. Miscellaneous I should also say that, at my invitation, Dr. T.K.