ABN SAYS PROFIT RISE ENCOURAGING IN VIEW DOLLAR

  Algemene Bank Nederland N.V. &lt;ABNN.AS>
  chairman Robertus Hazelhoff said the bank's 10.3 pct increase
  in net 1986 profit to 527 mln guilders from 478 mln in 1985 was
  encouraging in view of the sharply lower dollar.
      Hazelhoff, speaking at a press conference after the release
  of ABN's 1986 results, said a sharp decrease in foreign
  earnings had been compensated by a strong domestic performance,
  notably in the securities business.
      He said the bank was also proposing a one for 10
  share-split which should facilitate trade in the bank's stock.
      News of the split sparked a 14 guilder rise in ABN's share
  price on the Amsterdam bourse to a close of 517 guilders.
      Prospects for 1987 hung on three uncertainties, namely the
  future trend of the dollar, the level of interest rates and
  ABN's share of equities trade, Hazelhoff said.
      Provisions for general contingencies were reduced in 1986
  by 4.1 pct to 575 mln guilders, while taxes increased by 2.1
  pct to 242 mln guilders, he added.
      Lower global interest rates in 1986 had nipped earnings
  margins via traditional lending activities, he said.
      Hazelhoff said ABN was unlikely to continue reducing risk
  provisions in the future but he noted the bank was not overly
  concerned about default by Latin American debtors, a factor
  which brokers say has distanced Dutch insititutions from bank
  stocks recently.
      He said that of the bank's estimated 25 financially
  troubled sovereign debtors, about one quarter were Latin
  American countries. These would ultimately pay up, he said.
      He added that losses incurred through loans to tin
  producers in the wake of the tin council crisis at end-1985 had
  been written off.
  

