Germany's Commerzbank AG reported fourth-quarter 2017 profit attributable to shareholders of €90 million, down from €182 million a year ago, and said it aims to resume dividends for the 2018 financial year.
EPS totaled 7 cents, compared to 15 cents a year ago.
The lender's fourth-quarter net interest income remained largely flat at €1.10 billion, while net commission income was down to €774 million from €825 million a year ago.
The provision for loan losses totaled €251 million, compared to €290 million in the year-ago quarter.
For full year 2017, the lender's profit attributable to shareholders stood at €156 million, down from €279 million in 2016. The bank's loan loss provisions stood at €781 million for the year, compared to €900 million in 2016, as the lender benefited from the accelerated reduction of its ship finance portfolio.
Its asset and capital recovery division cut its ship finance portfolio to €2.6 billion in 2017, from €4.8 billion.
The NPL ratio stood at 1.3% at the end of 2017.
The bank incurred restructuring expenses of €808 million in 2017, compared to €128 million in 2016.
Return on equity was down to 0.5% in 2017 from 1.0% in 2016.
The bank reported a fully phased-in common equity Tier 1 ratio of 14.1% at December-end, compared to 13.5% in the third quarter of 2017, and 12.3% a year ago.
The group aims to resume dividend payments for the financial year 2018, Commerzbank Chairman Martin Zielke said.
