German DZ Bank lowers 2008 profit target -paper
FRANKFURT, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Germany's DZ Bank may not reach its 2008 targets due to the current financial crisis, its chief executive told German newspaper Handelsblatt.
"The implications of the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers has hit us and the whole industry, and so have the events in Iceland," Handelsblatt quoted Wolfgang Kirsch as saying in an article to be published on Tuesday.
"That's why we only expect earnings in the lower three-digit million euro area for the DZ Bank group -- providing there are no more negative factors," he added.
DZ Bank, the main clearing bank for the cooperative system, said in July it aimed to beat last year's earnings before tax of 1.07 billion euros ($1.44 billion) in 2008.
DZ Bank and its sister lender WGZ Bank are negotiating terms for a merger, and Kirsch said the deal was under no threat.
"Quite the opposite," he said, adding that the crisis only emphasised the logic of the deal.
"We are right on track," Kirsch told the paper.
He also said that DZ Bank would not make use of the German government's 500 billion euro rescue package. Continued...
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