ABN Amro hit by more Greek impairments Dutch bank ABN Amro lost €121m in the fourth quarter of 2011 due to a second round of impairments on Greek government-guaranteed loans and contraction in the Netherlands economy. The poor results worsened the prospects for the bank, which was nationalised during the financial crisis at a cost of €30bn, to stage an initial public offering and exit state ownership. ABN Amro took €380m in impairments in the fourth quarter on corporate loans guaranteed by the Greek state. The impairments added to the €500m in impairments on Greek loans in the third quarter, taking the total to €880m for the year. The bank took a further €388m in other impairments in the fourth quarter, mainly on commercial loans in the Netherlands due to the deteriorating domestic economic climate. Gerrit Zalm, the former finance minister appointed as chief executive at the time of the bank's nationalisation, said the bank had shown "a disappointing result for the full year." Net profits for 2011 came in at €689m, up from a loss of €414m in 2010 but well below expectations after a highly profitable first half. Mr Zalm said the bank was focused on cost-cutting, and noted it had improved its cost/income ratio to 64 per cent from 70 per cent the year before. He did not indicate when ABN Amro might move towards an IPO, a goal officially envisioned for 2014 but which he has previously said might be postponed due to market conditions. ABN Amro, which made a push to transform into an international investment bank early last decade, became a chiefly domestic retail operation after its takeover by Santander, Fortis and RBS in 2007 and subsequent nationalisation. Its collapse came to symbolise the financial crisis in the Netherlands, giving rise to a bestselling book and, most recently, a play, De Prooi - The Prey . ABN Amro has made some expansionary moves recently, rebuilding its operations in energy, commodities and transport. Earlier this week, ABN Amro announced it had repurchased some commercial banking activities from RBS Netherlands.