ANNUAL REPORT 2008 - Polymer Bank Notes of the World

to €3.9 billion (see note 20, “Foreign exchangeswap and forward transactions”), and (b) balancesin Swiss francs with a value of €1.2 billion whicharose in connection with the swap arrangementestablished with the Swiss National Bank 11(see note 9, “Liabilities to non-euro area residentsdenominated in euro”). The appreciation ofthe Japanese yen and the US dollar against theeuro, unrealised gains on securities (see note 14,“Revaluation accounts”), the investment of theproceeds of gold sales (see note 1, “Gold and goldreceivables”), and the income received primarilyon the US dollar portfolio have also contributed tothe increase in the total value of these items.Deposits related to operations conducted byEurosystem central banks in order to provide USdollar liquidity to credit institutions in the euroarea are included under the component moneymarket deposits with euro area residents.Additionally, upon the adoption of the singlecurrency by Cyprus and Malta with effect from1 January 2008, the Central Bank of Cyprusand the Central Bank of Malta transferred USdollars with an aggregate value of €93.5 millionto the ECB, in accordance with Article 30.1 ofthe Statute of the ESCB.The ECB’s net foreign currency holdings 12 ofUS dollars and Japanese yen, as at31 December 2008, were as follows:million currency unitsUS dollars 40,062Japanese yen 1,084,5483 CLAIMS ON NON-EURO AREA RESIDENTSDENOMINATED IN EUROIn 2007 money market deposits and currentaccounts held with non-euro area residents as adirect counterpart to the capital and reserves ofthe ECB were included under this heading. TheECB has decided to reclassify these holdingsas a dedicated portfolio, which is now includedunder the heading “Other financial assets”. Thecomparable balance as at 31 December 2007 hasbeen adjusted accordingly.As at 31 December 2008 this item consistedmainly of a claim of €460.0 million on theMagyar Nemzeti Bank in connection withan agreement established with the ECB onrepurchase transactions. This agreementprovides the Magyar Nemzeti Bank with afacility to borrow up to €5 billion in order tosupport its domestic operations for the provisionof euro liquidity.4 OTHER CLAIMS ON EURO AREA CREDITINSTITUTIONS DENOMINATED IN EUROIn 2007 money market deposits and currentaccounts held with euro area residents as adirect counterpart to the capital and reserves ofthe ECB were included under this heading. TheECB has decided to reclassify these holdingsas a dedicated portfolio, which is now includedunder the heading “Other financial assets”. Thecomparable balance as at 31 December 2007 hasbeen adjusted accordingly.As at 31 December 2008 this claim consisted ofa current account with a euro area resident.5 INTRA-EUROSYSTEM CLAIMSCLAIMS RELATED TO THE ALLOCATION OF EUROBANKNOTES WITHIN THE EUROSYSTEMThis item consists of the claims of the ECBvis-à-vis the euro area NCBs relating tothe allocation of euro banknotes within the11 The balances in Swiss francs reflect the risk control measuresapplied by the ECB in its EUR/CHF foreign exchange swaptender operations, which take the form of initial margins of 5%for one-week operations and 15% for 84-day operations.12 Assets minus liabilities denominated in the respective foreigncurrency that are subject to foreign currency revaluation. Theseare included under the headings “Claims on non-euro arearesidents denominated in foreign currency”, “Claims on euroarea residents denominated in foreign currency”, “Accruals andprepaid expenses”, “Liabilities to euro area residents denominatedin foreign currency”, “Liabilities to non-euro area residentsdenominated in foreign currency”, “Off-balance-sheet instrumentsrevaluation differences” (Liabilities side) and “Accruals andincome collected in advance”, also taking into account foreignexchange forward and swap transactions under off-balance-sheetitems. The effects of the price revaluation gains on financialinstruments denominated in foreign currency are not included.ECBAnnual Report2008225