“Germany’s Bundesbank almost doubled its risk provisions in 2012, citing increased potential for losses stemming from the European Central Bank’s monetary policy.
The Frankfurt-based central bank increased provisions for general risks by 6.7 billion euros ($8.7 billion) to 14.4 billion euros, it said in an e-mailed statement today when releasing its 2012 annual report. Due to higher interest income, the Bundesbank’s profit rose to 664 million euros from 643 million euros in 2011. The increase in provisions stems from the ECB’s enhanced support of the financial sector over the course of the year, the Bundesbank said.
“The past year had seen an overall increase in counterparty credit risks stemming from refinancing loans and purchasing bonds,” Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann said in the statement.
The ECB injected more than 1 trillion euros into the banking system with two three-year refinancing loans designed to avoid a credit crunch. Some 22 percent of those loans have since been paid back as the ECB’s pledge to buy unlimitedgovernment bonds if certain conditions are met eased tensions on financial markets.
Weidmann reiterated in a foreword to the annual report that the Bundesbank is critical of some of the measures taken by the ECB because “they blur too much the responsibilities of monetary and fiscal policies.”
