Hypo Real Estate Posts Another Loss For Q3

GEIR MOULSON

BERLIN (AP) — Nationalized German lender Hypo Real Estate Holding AG on Wednesday reported another net loss for the third quarter as fallout from the financial crisis and loan-loss provisions continued to weigh on earnings.

The Munich-based company said it lost euro574 million ($860 million) in the July-September period, still an improvement on its huge loss of euro3.05 billion a year earlier.

The company said its earnings so far this year have been hurt by impairments "connected with the financial market crisis and the economic downturn, which in particular is also affecting the commercial real estate market."

Loan-loss provisions rose to euro810 million from euro177 milllion in last year's third quarter.

Hypo Real Estate had a net commission loss of euro97 million, a figure that it said was affected by expenses related to the liquidity support it has received. A year earlier, net commission income was euro35 million.

The bank is the most prominent German victim of the financial crisis. It ran into trouble in September 2008 after its Ireland-based unit Depfa Bank PLC failed to find short-term funding amid the widening credit crunch.