however, the difference resulting from this is subject to a statutory restriction on distribution. the remaining distributable profit of €1. 9 billion will today be transferred to the federal finance minister and used for budgetary financing. the bundesbank ’ s profit is higher due, in particular, to the rise in deposits of credit institutions on the liabilities side of our balance sheet. as you are aware, we currently charge a negative interest rate of – 0. 4 % for these deposits. by contrast, given the current low - interest - rate environment, there is de facto no interest income on the assets side. this applies, in particular, to our bond purchases. this means that our usual income situation has been reversed. in “ normal times ” it is the assets which generate income, notably refinancing operations with banks. now it is the opposite way 7 / 8 bis central bankers'speeches around. as i pointed out in the last two years, this creates considerable interest rate risk for the bundesbank. the interest income on the liabilities side can quickly turn into interest expenditure if the policy rates pick up. however, given the comparatively long time to maturity of its investments, we will also generate almost no income on the assets side in the longer term. the continuation of the asset purchases has driven up interest rate risk. this is why we raised our provisions for general risks by €1. 075 billion. mr thiele will give you more details on this in just a moment. but first, i would again like to stress the point i made on this occasion one year ago. it would be wrong to benchmark the monetary policy decisions against the central bank ’ s profit or loss. the sole benchmark is whether our monetary policy succeeds in preserving price stability. and as far as this is concerned, we are on the right track. if the upturn continues and prices rise accordingly, i see no reason why the ecb governing council should not end the net asset purchases in the current year. 7 conclusion and handover to mr thiele with that, i will now hand over to mr thiele, who will provide you with more details on the annual accounts. we will then be happy to answer your questions. thank you for your attention. 1 see european central bank ( 2016 ), exchange rate pass - through into euro area inflation, economic bulletin 7 / 2016, pp 27 ff. 8 / 8 bis central bankers'speeches

prof. tietmeyer discusses the relationship between economic convergence and emu speech by the president of the deutsche bundesbank, prof. hans tietmeyer, delivered to the boersen executive club in copenhagen on 14 / 3 / 97. i the boersen executive club has asked me to speak about “ economic convergence and emu ”. i shall be pleased to do so, especially as i can well imagine that you here in denmark are able to adopt a somewhat more relaxed and calmer approach to the subject of “ convergence and emu ”. there are two obvious reasons for that. firstly, denmark itself has made distinct progress in economic convergence during the past few years. that progress was documented in the european monetary institute ’ s recently published convergence report. - the danish krone has been stable internally for a good number of years. - it is unlikely that denmark will have any problem with the exchange rate criterion either. happily, participation in the erm - as in germany - has never been at issue here. - and there has been notable progress in consolidating public finance. the assessment of denmark in the european monetary institute ’ s convergence report was therefore decidedly more positive than that of germany. the second reason why you in denmark can be rather more relaxed on the subject of “ convergence and emu ” is, of course, self - evident. denmark has announced that, for the time being, it is not going to participate in the third stage of monetary union. naturally, we in germany respect denmark ’ s sovereign decision, even if we at the bundesbank are not unreservedly happy about that decision. that is because it is precisely in the initial phase that we shall need stable partners in emu. but the door is open. the terms of entry are known on all sides. what has not happened yet can, of course, take place at some point in the future. it goes without saying, however, that this is a matter for the danes themselves to decide. whatever decision denmark ultimately takes on participating in the third stage, i hope that exchange rate stability is maintained as before. it is likely that the danish krone will belong at least to the exchange rate mechanism of “ ems ii ” from the outset. that would, at any rate, imply the existence of close bilateral links between the danish krone and the euro. for the rest, it is precisely the economic and stability record of countries not wishing to belong from the outset which represents a challenge to and