COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Danske Bank <DANSKE.CO> pretax profit dropped 42 percent year on year in the third quarter to 3.59 billion Danish crowns (£425 million), missing the 3.72 billion that was expected by analysts in a Reuters poll.
The result was dented by a 1.5 billion crown donation, which the bank decided in July to give to initiatives to combat financial crime after a money laundering scandal at its Estonian branch.
If any income from the non-resident portfolio becomes subject to confiscation by relevant authorities, any such confiscation would be deducted from the amount to be donated, the bank said on Thursday.
The scandal involves 200 billion euros (£179 billion) in payments through Danske's Estonian branch between 2007 and 2015, many of which Denmark's largest bank said in a report in September it regards as suspicious.
When it published the report in September Danske Bank cut its forecast for 2018 net profit to 16 billion to 17 billion Danish crowns, from a previous forecast of 18 billion to 20 billion crowns due to the donation. The bank kept that forecast on Thursday.
The scandal has led the bank's former Chief Executive Thomas Borgen to resign and almost halved Danske Bank share price since February.
(Reporting by Teis Jensen; Editing by Louise Heavens and Edmund Blair)
