KBC suffers unexpected loss in third quarter
BELGIAN banking and insurance group KBC, which has operations in Ireland, said it has had an unexpected underlying net loss for the third quarter, as Greece, Ireland, Bulgaria, Hungary and divestments cost it €1.3bn
KBC's underlying net loss for the third quarter was €248m, significantly worse than then €83m profit expected.
But the company said that, excluding one-offs, the figure would have been €222m.
Said CEO Jan Vanhevel "The operating environment has been harsh in the third quarter and we realise that these are tough times for most economies and for millions of people.
’KBC has obviously not been immune to this and our results have been severely impacted."
KBC said it had incurred higher impairment charges related to Irish property loans.
It said that the economic situation in Ireland had not improved and that austerity measures had an impact on the financial strength of households.
It said it expected loan loss provisions of about €200m per quarter in the next couple of quarters.
And it added that there are payment arrears of at least three months on more than 15pc of its €16.8bn Irish loan book, up from 13pc three months ago.
- Independent.ie reporters
