Failed bank Dexia posts 1.2 bln euro

PARIS - Agence France-Presse

Failed Franco-Belgian banking group Dexia, which owns Turkey’s Denizbank, reported a 1.2-billion-euro loss in the first half of 2012 linked mainly to interest payments on state bailouts from France, Belgium and Luxembourg.

The bank said in a statement that results were also hit by a 184 million euro ($224 million) charge on its stake in Kommunalkredit Austria.

State guarantees

Belgium, France and Luxembourg in June raised the amount of state guarantees backing the remnants of Dexia from 45 billion euros to 55 billion euros.

First bailed out in 2008 amid the global financial crisis, Dexia was not able to survive subsequent turmoil created by the eurozone debt crisis and in October the three eurozone countries stepped in to wind up the bank.

European banks are back in the spotlight as a pernicious, interconnected sovereign and banking debt crisis takes a sharp turn for the worse with major problems in Spain.