The provision for credit losses was a net release of € 1 million in 2003 compared to provisions of € 23 million in 2002, which primarily reflected losses for counterparties in Europe resulting from shortfalls in collateral levels as stock markets declined.
Noninterest expenses were € 3.1 billion for the year ended December 31, 2003, a decrease of € 177 million, or 5%, compared to 2002 due to successful cost management as headcount reductions of 12% resulted in savings across most cost categories as well as the positive effect of the strengthening of the euro partially offset by higher noninterest expenses due to the aforementioned consolidation effects from the acquisition of Scudder, RREEF and Rued, Blass & Cie AG Bankgeschaeft.
From 2002 to 2003, the cost/income ratio decreased by 7 percentage points to 81% in 2003 reflecting the impact of lower noninterest expenses and higher revenues as individually discussed above.
Invested assets decreased by € 151 billion, or 17%, to 729 billion in 2003 primarily due to the sale of our Passive Asset Management business in the first quarter of 2003, which accounted for approximately € 103 billion of the decrease. The remaining decrease was mainly due to the negative impact of the strengthening of the euro of € 73 billion, partially offset by positive market movements and net new assets of € 25 billion.