UniCredit SpA on Thursday posted a 51 percent decline in first-quarter net profit after booking a 683 million (US$1 billion) trading loss.
Net profit for the period was 1 billion (US$1.5 billion), compared with 2.06 billion a year earlier.
UniCredit warned markets about the trading loss in April.
The Milan-based bank said revenue in the first quarter was 6.45 billion (US$9.95 billion), down 19 percent from 7.73 billion a year earlier.
UniCredit shares have lost about 13 percent of their value in the past six months, in line with its main Italian competitor, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA. Its shares Wednesday closed at 4.95 (US$7.64), giving the bank a market capitalization of about 65.5 billion (US$101 billion).
Net interest income in the first quarter was 4.54 billion (US$7 billion), up 10 percent from 4.05 billion in the same period last year.
Moody's ratings agency Tuesday cut its outlook for UniCredit debt to negative from stable after the Italian bank announced write-downs last month as a result of global market turmoil. The rating agency kept its stable outlook for HVB, UniCredit's German unit.
