NICOSIA - Hellenic Bank swung to a net loss of €72.10m in the first nine months of the year, hit by high provisioning costs and a writedown on its Greek bonds. It posted a net profit of 12.05 million euros in the first three quarters of 2010.

The bank, in which the Church of Cyprus is a key shareholder, said on Tuesday its pretax loss was 63.04 million euros compared with a profit of 16.14 million in the first nine months of 2010.

Hellenic Bank hiked its provisions by 120 percent in the first nine months of the year compared with 2010.

The bank, which has some 110 million euros in Greek bonds, said it took a 55 million euro impairment from the 50 percent haircut on Greek sovereign debt agreed by euro zone leaders in October.

Excluding the participation in the Greek sovereign debt swap and provisions, earnings rose on the year by 50 percent to 93.3 million euros, the bank said.