AllianceBernstein’s profit falls 73%

AllianceBernstein LP reported a 73% fourth-quarter-profit decline, while CIT Group Inc. and Fifth Third Bancorp posted fourth-quarter losses stemming from bad loans. AllianceBernstein reported income of $25.7 million, or 29 cents a share, down from $93 million, or $1.06 a share, in the year-earlier quarter. The New York-based fund manager was hurt by a steep fall in its assets under management, which stood at $462 billion at the end of the fourth quarter, a 42% drop from a year earlier. Meanwhile, CIT Group reported a fourth-quarter loss of $139.4 million, or 54 cents a share, compared with net income of $62.4 million, or 29 cents a share, a year earlier. The New York-based commercial lender was hammered with $440 million in loan loss provisions during the quarter. And Fifth Third Bancorp posted a loss of $2.2 billion, compared with a profit of $16 million, or 3 cents a share, a year earlier. The Cincinnati-based bank’s third-straight quarterly loss was attributed in large part to its setting aside of $2.8 billion in reserve for loan and lease losses.