Financial statements

Total assets increased
Total assets rose by 8.0% to EUR 256.0 billion, owing to strong gold price gains and higher intra-Eurosystem balances related to the allocation of euro banknotes and to TARGET. In the context of monetary policy, further securities held for monetary policy purposes matured, while deposits by banks decreased.

Strong gold price gains continued
Due to higher gold prices, valuation gains on gold rose steeply against the previous year (+51.2%), reaching a high of EUR 30.8 billion. At about 280 tons of fine gold, our gold holdings remained unchanged. The value of gold and gold receivables increased by EUR 10.4 billion or 46.1% to EUR 33.0 billion.


Banknotes in circulation on the rise
The item banknotes in circulation reflects the value of euro banknotes in circulation allocated to the OeNB. At EUR 44.0 billion, it rose by 2% against the previous year.

Operating result improved
In 2025, the negative operating result decreased by 51.8% to -EUR 1.0 billion. This was mainly thanks to the significant improvement in net interest income caused by lower key interest rates. Though interest income from securities held for monetary policy purposes remained low, interest payments on banks’ deposits decreased markedly. Including the loss carried forward from the previous year, this situation resulted in a balance sheet loss of ‑EUR 5.2 billion.


Operating expenses remained stable
Net expenses, especially staff costs and administrative expenses, remained stable and were even EUR 1.9 million lower than in the year before.

OeNB indicators over the past five years
  2025 2024 2023 2022 2021
 
                                                                                                 EUR million
Net currency position 39,401 27,321 22,260 25,113 24,148
     of which: gold and gold receivables 33,034 22,605 16,814 15,358 14,489
Banknotes in circulation 44,051 43,203 41,861 42,327 41,583
Total assets 255,961 236,901 246,509 261,406 275,197
 
Net expenses -355 -357 -316 -295 -418
Operating result -1,023 -2,122 -2,211 - 94
Corporate income tax 0 0 0 0 24
Transfer to the pension reserve - - - - 7
Central government’s share of profit - - - - 57
Profit/loss for the year -5,207 -4,184 -2,062 - 6
 
Staff in full-time equivalents (FTEs)1 1,141.1 1,149.3 1,132.2 1,129.3 1,133.2
 
Source: OeNB.
1 Excluding interns and employees on secondment or leave (such as maternity and parental leave). Figures include part-time employees on a pro rata basis.