Big loss at Credit Agricole

French bank Credit Agricole reported a record quarterly net loss of €3.07bn yesterday, performing worse than expected as it was hit by the cost of shrinking its balance sheet and the Greek debt crisis.

Press agency Reuters reported that the semi-cooperative bank, which is under new management and trying to return to its low-risk retail lending roots, was hit by more than €2bn in quarterly one-off charges that it had already disclosed in December.

Unprecedented cheap funding by the European Central Bank and a debt deal on Greece have calmed financial markets, but the outlook is still uncertain, Credit Agricole’s chief said.

“We think 2012 is going to still be a tense period,” Jean-Paul Chifflet told journalists on a conference call. “We’re hoping that our results will be largely better than in 2011... the months of January and February, in everything that is (capital) markets, have been good.”

Credit Agricole shares were down 2.3% to €4.89 at 08:13 GMT.

The stock is up 14.9% year-to-date, underperforming a 17% gain for the STOXX Europe 600 bank index as investor risk appetite returns for European financials.

Meanwhile, Cairo-based lender Credit Agricole Egypt has reported that its 2011 profits declined by almost a third, Bloomberg reported.