ABN Amro profits slide in 2Q

AMSTERDAM (AP) ? ABN Amro, the bank owned by the Dutch state, says second quarter earnings fell 9.9 percent due to more of its loans going bad.

Net profit was ?291 million ($365 million), compared with ?323 million a year ago. ABN blamed lower interest margins, falling commissions, and a near-doubling in bad loans to ?367 million from ?187 million. CEO Gerrit Zalm blamed a Dutch recession, pointing to rising bankruptcies and unemployment rising to 6.5 percent.

The latest government data show the economy has actually been slowly growing, however.

Meanwhile ABN's retail deposits increased by ?7.7 billion, benefitting from savers frightened by Europe's debt crisis.

The government purchased ABN Amro to save the nation's banking system in 2008 as previous owner Fortis slid toward bankruptcy. The deal cost taxpayers around ?32 billion.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/abn-amro-profits-slide-2q-073447290--finance.html

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