Bad loans zap ABN Amro's earning

ABN Amro Bank NV — the state-owned Dutch banking operations left over from the parent company's bailout — on Wednesday reported a euro32 million ($48 million) loss for the third quarter due to higher provisions for bad loans. The operations had reported profit of euro135 million in the same period a year ago, the state said in a statement. Loan provisions were euro242 million, up from euro148 million, as the economy weakened. The Netherlands nationalized the Dutch banking operations of ABN Amro Group and of their would-be acquirer Fortis last year as Fortis teetered on the edge of bankruptcy. On Oct. 20, the state reached an agreement with the EU Commission to merge those operations and rename them ABN Amro Bank NV. Approval was conditional on the sale of some commercial banking assets to Deutsche Bank AG for euro700 million, a deal that ABN expects to book a loss of euro900 million on in the fourth quarter. The state said Wednesday it expected the technical separation of ABN Amro Bank NV from the rest of the former ABN Amro Group — now mostly owned by Royal Bank of Scotland PLC — by the end of January. Full legal separation is set to follow two months later. The state has not yet set a deadline to reliberalize the new ABN Amro Bank NV.