Commercial Bank of Kuwait (CBK) made a third-quarter net loss of 1.6 million dinars ($5.60 million) on provisions against bad loans and investments.

The results came well below a forecast by Coast Investment which had predicted a net profit of 6.98 million dinars in the third quarter, according to a Reuters poll.

The country's third biggest lender by market value made a net profit of 34.39 million dinars a year earlier, according to previous financial statements.

Loss per share in the third quarter was 2 fils, compared with earnings per share of 27.4 fils in the same period a year ago, the bank said on Sunday on the bourse website. There are 1,000 fils to the dinar.

CBK posted a profit before provisions of 99 million dinars in the third quarter, it said in the statement, adding that it will continue to book provisions for the rest of the year.

"By the end of the year the bank will be protected by adequate provisions against any meltdown the financial crisis may leave," Chairman Abdulmajeed Al-Shatti said in a statement.

The bank had a total of 229.6 million dinars of provisions in the first nine months of the year, it said in the statement, without saying specifically what were the provisions booked for.

CBK's total assets amounted to 3.7 billion dinars at the end of September, while shareholders equity stood at 444.9 million dinars, the bank said. -Reuters