UniCredit, Italy's largest bank, has reported a 22% drop in profits to €1.32 billion last year, amid financial market volatility and a shareholder rebellion which led to a boardroom shake-up.
The profit fall was due in part to several once-off items such as goodwill impairment and deferred tax payments, the company said in its statement.
The new figures follow a halving of profits in 2009, then due to loan payment problems by customers hit by the economic crisis. Fourth quarter profits also fell in 2010, to €321m from €371m a year earlier.
The Libyan state is the biggest shareholder in UniCredit with a stake of 7.6% and Libya is represented on the bank's board of directors.
Earlier this week UniCredit said it had frozen a Libyan stake in the lender worth an estimated €3.6 billion following the adoption of European Union sanctions against the regime of Moamer Gaddafi.
The bank's chief executive Federico Ghizzoni has promised stability following the dramatic removal of his predecessor last year in a row over management.
