Erste Group's second-quarter profit down 19% due to provisions for lost legal case

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian lender Erste Group <ERST.VI> on Wednesday reported a 19% fall in its second-quarter net profit mainly due to provisions for a lost legal case in Romania.

Net profit reached 354.9 million euros (£325.7 million) in the April to June period after 438.2 million euros in last year's period, the bank said.

Erste Group booked a one-off charge of 150.8 million euros for the Romanian case after warning last month it would set aside up to 230 million euros for it.

(Reporting by Kirsti Knolle, editing by Riham Alkousaa)