Performance, services and resources

The income statement highlights a net profit equal to € 205.5 million, essentially stable compared with 2007 (+0.3%).

This is the result of the positive performance of the net interest income, which grew in relation to the expansive trend in volumes, maintenance of net commis-sions, use of new valuation criteria of the so-called “shadow accounting”, relative to the separate management of life insurance policies and lower net tax impact, however linked to one-off benefits. A comparison with 2007 was, on the other hand, negatively affected by both lower profits from the disposal of financial assets available for sale, and in particular, greater losses from trading activities and the write-down of some positions in securities available for sale (impairmentⁱ), for which it was deemed that durable losses in value existed, related to the difficult situation in the financial markets. These losses however, were partly down to the reclassification of part of the securities portfolio, carried out by availing of the possibilities presented by modifications to accounting standards IAS 39 and IFRS 7, which allowed the recording of lower losses in the income statement. Said losses mainly relate to debt securities, made up almost entirely of Government, bank and corporateⁱ bonds with high credit standings which, also based on recent analysis carried out by leading in-ternational research companies, it is deemed may be gradually reabsorbed before the respective maturity/repayment date.

With reference to “shadow accounting” in the 2008 financial statements, an evaluation model developed in collaboration with a leading consultancy firm was used which, in compliance with the limits set by IFRS 4 regarding reserve adequacy tests, relative to the amount of liabilities, estimated the realisation of potential net capital gains or losses over the course of several years, compared to the preceding hypothesis of full realisation at the date of close of the financial statements’ reference period; application of this model led to a positive economic effect of roughly € 30 million before taxes.
The lower tax impact of roughly € 30 million augmented the positive contribution to the income statement, mainly linked to the redemption of off-balance sheet differences, in accordance with the terms of Law 244/2007 (2008 Finance Law), partially absorbed by the effects of tax reform for banks (so called “Manovra d’estate”) and integration, at an ordinary rate, of substitute tax paid in 2004 for redemption of fixed assets and calculated at a reduced rate, which the European Commission subsequently qualified as "Government assistance".

INCOME STATEMENT

INCOME STATEMENT - RESULTS FOR THE PERIOD