Australia's Bank of Queensland is heading for a full-year loss, after revising down its profit forecast for the second half of the year.
The large regional bank made a first-half loss of $90.6 million, and is now forecasting a second-half net profit of $70-75 million, leaving it on track for a full-year loss around $15-20 million.
AAP is reporting that it would be the first full-year loss by an Australian bank since ANZ lost $579 million in its 1991-92 financial year.
The loss is largely due to a $15 million increase in bad debt provisions due to the economic and property market downturn in south-east Queensland.
Those extra provisions take the bank's bad debt expense for the second half to between $70-75 million, which is around $10-15 million above previous analyst forecasts.
The bank will release its final audited full-year accounts on 18 October.
