Dutch banking group ABN Amro has posted first quarter profits of €397m, a drop of 42% on the same period a year earlier.
Excluding an after-tax extraordinary charge of €205m for the restructuring of its US wholesale operations, profit fell to €602m from €683m a year ago. Revenues were up 4.7% to €4.7 billion.
ABN Amro's chief financial officer Tom de Swaan reiterated the expectation issued in February that loan loss provisioning would rise slightly from 2001 while revenues would remain in line with last year.
He also said that the restructuring of the Dutch branch office network was proceeding on schedule. After having closed 160 branches by the end of 2001, the bank closed another 40 by the end of the first quarter.
