The fall was caused by higher provisions for bad loans and rising interest costs.
In most cases, the declines are a result of restructuring costs and significantly higher provisions for loan losses, especially in investment banking.
Bank of Montreal's first-quarter profit fell 27percentt, hurt by write-downs related to the capital markets and higher provisions for bad loans.
Late Monday, E*Trade disclosed that it was cutting its earnings forecast for 2007 by 30percentt because of higher provisions for loan losses and potential securities impairments related to mortgages.
In contrast with the many banks that have been reporting higher provisions for bad loans along with the sinking economy, HSBC said charges to cover bad debts fell by $716 million, to $1.3 billion for the year.
Aracruz Celulose, Latin America's largest pulp and paper exporter, said that fourth-quarter profit would probably fall 79percentt because of higher provisions for taxes and nonoperating expenses and a decline in international pulp prices.
Over all, however, Santander and BBVA each reported a decline in profits of 35 percent in 2011, amid higher provisioning for bad loans in Spain, where banks financed the real estate sector's boom and bust.
Credit card operators' losses on receivables have further to go as consumer delinquencies trigger rising credit losses and higher provisions for loss reserves.
(See "Italian Banking Bailout Kicks Off").. Now it appears that the Spanish banking sector isn't immune either, despite the tight regulations, which include making higher provisions for loan losses.
Since this reform reduced the strictness of EPL for (new) permanent workers and introduced a compensation for TC termination, the drop in the training-incidence gap could be due to a lower provision of training for permanent workers and/or to a higher provision of training for temporary workers.
