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Bad loans dent Erste Bank profit
Austrian lender Erste Bank saw second-quarter pre-tax profit fall by 12 per cent, down from ¤447m (£381m) in the same period last year to ¤391.7m. The bank was hit by rising rates of bad loans in Eastern Europe but predicted that it would remain in the black. “We don’t expect that, for us, the crisis will get noticeably more intense than now, and we are well-equipped to cope with the added risks,” said chief executive Andreas Treichl.