Credit Agricole posts record 6.47 bn euro loss in 2012 

(MENAFN - AFP) French bank Credit Agricole said Wednesday it posted a record 6.47 billion euro (8.7 billion) loss for 2012 after booking a massive fourth quarter charge but was now "turning the page".The bank said it would be launching a three-year strategic plan aimed at saving 650 million euros.In the fourth quarter alone, the bank posted a loss of 3.98 billion euros, mostly due to exceptional items.Part of the loss, 838 million euros, was due to Credit Agricole's exit from its Greek bank Emporiki.It also booked 2.67 billion euros in writing down the value of its assets and an 837 million charge for the re-evaluation of the value of its debt."2012 was a year of transformation and streamlining. We are turning the page and we will develop this year a new medium-term plan," the bank's chief executive Jean-Paul Chifflet said in the statement."It will show that we are going forward on a solid foundation."Stripping out exceptional items, the banking group's fourth quarter earnings rose by 10 percent from the same period in 2011 to 548 million euros.For 2012 as a whole it put net earnings before exceptional items at 3.0 billion euros.The banks said that it would not pay a dividend for 2012, following on from 2011 when it suffered a loss of 1.47 billion euros.