Dutch bank Rabobank, which owns ACCBank in Ireland, says it expects bad debt costs to remain high in 2009 and possibly thereafter, after a jump in loan provisions hit its half-year net profit.
Rabobank's bad loan provisions increased to 0.55% of its average loan portfolio in the first half of 2009 from 0.09% a year ago. Chief executive Piet Moerland said he expected a similar percentage for the full year as companies suffer from the recession.
The bank reported an 18% drop in first-half net profit to €1.3 billion.
ACC last year wrote off €373m for bad loans in its results for 2008, and earlier this year announced that it was cutting 200 jobs and closing 16 branches in an effort to reduce costs.
