On 31 March 2017 the Bank of Italy's Ordinary Meeting of Shareholders approved the annual accounts for 2016. Assets rose by €186 billion to about €774 billion at year-end, mainly owing to the expansion in monetary policy operations.
The year ended with a gross profit, before the transfer to the provision for general risks and before taxes, of €6.916 million, up significantly from the €6,015 million recorded a year earlier.
As a result of the considerable increase in the size of the Bank's balance sheet and the risks associated with the rolling out of the private and public securities purchase programmes established in connection with monetary policy decisions, the provision for general risks increased by €2,920 million.
Taxes for the year amounted to €1,310 million (€1,017 million in 2015).
From the net profit of €2,686 million (€2,797 million in 2015) €150 million is allocated to the ordinary reserve and a dividend of €340 million is assigned to the shareholders. However, the actual dividend is €207 million lower than indicated because Article 3 of the Bank's Statute provides that dividends on shareholdings exceeding the limit of 3 per cent of the capital, equal to €133 million, are instead allocated to the ordinary reserve, bringing the total for that reserve to €283 million (€300 million in 2015).
Some €40 million was allocated to a special item to be used to stabilize over the long term the amount of net profits paid to the shareholders under the dividend policy in force.
The amount to be paid to the State is therefore €2,156 million.
