November 10, 2001	Saturday	Shaba’an 23, 1422

FRANKFURT, Nov 9: Commerzbank, the fourth-biggest bank in Germany, said on Friday it slid into loss in the third quarter owing to weakness of the stock market and higher provisioning to cover bad or risky loans.

Commerzbank said in its interim report it posted a net loss of 184 million euros ($166m) in the period from July to September, compared with net profit of 94 million euros in the second quarter and net profit of 343m euros in the third quarter of 2000.

“We already reported a decline in earnings at the middle of the year, but the situation has deteriorated further since then,” Commerzbank complained.

“Lack of confidence in the economy on the part of companies, consumers and investors is creating big problems for the financial markets,” it said.

Commerzbank’s income from own-account trading, for example, slumped to 83m euros in the July-September period from 241m euros in the preceding three months.

Similarly, net commission income fell to 569m euros, its lowest level in more than two years.—AFP