Marfin Popular 9M net down 37% on weak fixed income

Cyprus's Marfin Popular Bank's nine-month net profit tumbled by more than a third, it said on Thursday, as weak fixed-income markets and higher loan losses offset a rise in net interest.
The bank, headquartered in Cyprus, said net profit for the first nine months fell by 36.8% to 90.9 mln euros from 143.9 mln a year ago, as financial income halved to 85.6 mln because of difficult fixed-income markets.
Net interest income came in at 537 mln euros, a 17.8% increase from a year earlier. Pretax profit declined 41.2% to 109.8 mln euros, the bank said.
Marfin said loans in Cyprus and in Greece rose by 16% and 5%, respectively. Greece represented 48 percent of its loan book and Cyprus 38%.
Loan provisions rose about 18 mln.
It said it planned to set up a representative office in China which would be operational in the first quarter of next year.
Last week the bank received shareholder approval to go ahead with a 488.6 mln euro rights issue and a convertible securities issue worth up to 660 mln euros.