The provision for credit losses was € 759 million in 2003 compared to € 1.8 billion in 2002. In 2003, the overall improving credit quality of our loan book has led to a reduction in the required net provision.
Noninterest expenses in 2003 were € 8.2 billion, a decrease of € 818 million compared to € 9.0 billion in 2002, which included charges for restructuring activities of € 316 million for plans initiated in the first and second quarter of 2002. In 2003, € 23 million of these provisions were released subsequent to the full implementation of the plans. Excluding these restructuring activities in both years, noninterest expenses in 2003 decreased by € 479 million. This reflects the beneficial effect on expenses of the aforementioned exchange rate movements as well as the continuing benefits of our cost containment program and the emphasis on control of discretionary spending across all expense categories, which more than offset higher performance-related compensation expenses.
The cost/income ratio of 70% in 2003 showed an 11 percentage point improvement on 2002 reflecting the combined impact of the reduction in noninterest expenses and the increase in net revenues as discussed above.