Bank of Greece reports lower 2010 results

Bank of Greece on Monday said its profits fell 16.5 pct to 190.4 million euros in 2010, from 228.2 million euros in 2009 and said the board will seek shareholders’ approval to a plan to pay a 2.60 euros per share dividend to shareholders, down from 3.2 euros in 2009.

Net revenues from participating in a single monetary policy of the Eurosystem, portfolio interest, commissions and other operations totaled 1.044 billion euros last year, down 8.3 pct from the previous year.

Net revenues from interest and financial transactions eased 0.3 pct to 831 million euros, net revenues from commissions fell 19 pct to 141.5 million euros and revenue from shares and holdings fell to 12.3 million euros.

The central bank said expenses fell 6.3 pct last year, with general operating expenses falling 13.2 pct to 381.2 million euros. Provisions rose significantly to 2.385 billion euros in 2010.