FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - Germany's Commerzbank says it's making progress in reshaping its business but still has a long way to go as higher shipping loan losses and low interest rates continue to squeeze profits.
The bank provided detail Friday on its fourth-quarter earnings announced Feb. 4. It lost â ¬716 million largely due to one-time losses of â ¬185 million on its sale of Bank Forum in Ukraine and â ¬560 million in tax accounting charges.
The bank says it made progress in winding down businesses that it's getting rid of, in commercial real estate and shipping finance. Its non-core assets division shrank by â ¬9 billion to â ¬151 billion during the quarter.
But the bank says high loan losses from its remaining ship finance business weighed on earnings. And low rates are hurting interest income.