Greek bank Emporiki's losses up, provisions jump

Greek bank Emporiki's losses up, provisions jump

Fri Feb 11, 2011 11:27am EST

Emporiki full-year 2010 loss at 874 mln euros

*Loan-loss provisions up 55 pct, reach 1 bln euros

ATHENS, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Greek bank Emporiki (CBGr.AT), majority-owned by France's Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA), said on Friday full-year 2010 losses widened 50 percent to 874 million euros ($1.18 billion) on higher provisions.

Kicking off the earnings reporting season for Greek banks, the lender said provisions for impaired loans rose 55 percent from a year earlier, reaching 1 billion euros.

Austerity measures to secure emergency EU/IMF funding will keep the Greek economy in recession this year with authorities expecting GDP to contract by 3 percent after a 4.2 percent slump last year.

Rising unemployment has led to an increase in loan impairments. The jobless rate hit a new record of 13.9 percent in November. []ID:nLDE7190WQ]

The bank's chief executive Alain Strub has said the lender is not interested in mergers and expects to be profitable again by 2012. [ID:nLDE6571DW].

Emporiki said group net interest income grew 20 percent last year to 650 million euros.

Its loan portfolio shrank 0.2 percent to 22.6 billion euros in 2010 with parent Credit Agricole supplying increased liquidity. Deposits declined 22 percent to 11.6 billion euros. (Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Writing by George Georgiopoulos; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

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Emporiki full-year 2010 loss at 874 mln euros