Raiffeisen Q3 Profit Drops 74 Pct

VIENNA (AP) — Austrian bank Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG said Thursday its third quarter net profit dropped by 74 percent due mainly to provisions for bad loans in Eastern and Central Europe.

The company, which is based in Vienna and operates in 17 other countries in the region, said net profit for the three months through Sept. 30 fell to euro77.5 million ($115.7 million) from euro295.8 million a year earlier.

Its provisions for non-performing loans rose — particularly in Ukraine, Russia and Hungary — to a total of euro396.5 million in the third quarter from euro164.2 million in the year-ago quarter.

"Despite a recent series of positive signals, the overall conditions for Central and Eastern Europe continue to bear the stamp of the global financial crisis," CEO Herbert Stepic said in a statement. "The crisis's continuing influence is also reflected in our results for the first three quarters of this year."

Raiffeisen said provisions for bad loans had decreased from earlier in the year but noted that the devaluation of currencies in Central and Eastern Europe negatively affected its results.