Assets and financial position Total assets Consolidated total assets as at 31 December 2008 amounted to 41.2 billion (31 December 2007: 40.2 billion). The Group's assets comprise predominantly the property finance portfolio, the securities portfolio, and loans and advances to banks and non-banks. Shareholders' equity and liabilities comprise long-term funding as well as customer deposits, liabilities to banks, non-interest bearing assets, and other assets. Assets Property financing portfolio As at 31 December 2008, international property financing under management accounted for 23.5 billion. This equates to a slight decline over the previous year's figure of 24.0 billion. The rise in the international property financing business was offset by the significant reduction of our German portfolio. At 36 million, the cost of materials was un- changed from the previous year, despite the rise in sales revenue. Staff expenses were down 3 million to 99 million (-3 %), in spite of the additional ex- pense incurred through consolidation of the sub- sidiary Sylogis.com S.A.S. ( 2 million) for the first time in Q4 2008. This segment also adheres to the strict cost discipline pursued by Aareal Bank Group. In addition to a decline in write-downs to 14 million (2007: 16 million), other opera- ting expenses were also reduced by 6 million to 49 million. On balance, the result from ordinary activities in the Consulting/Services segment was 44 million (2007: 183 million; adjusted: 30 million). After deduction of 14 million in taxes and minority interest, the segment result stood at 28 million after minority interests (2007: 170 million). Structure of assets, and of shareholders' equity and liabilities, as at 31 December 2008 Euro bn Assets Shareholders' equity and liabilities 22.8 Property finance portfolio 13.0 Securities portfolio 2.2 Interbank, repos, and cash funds 22.5 Long-term funding 7.3 Deposits 7.9 Interbank und repo 3.5 Non-interest-bearing liabilities a. shareholders' equity3.2 Non-interest-bearing assets and other assets 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 72 Aareal Bank Group ­ Annual Report 2008 | Group Management Report