Regional banking company KeyCorp’s 4Q loss narrows; $756 million set aside for bad loans

KeyCorp narrows its 4Q loss; revenues edge up

CLEVELAND — KeyCorp said Thursday that its losses narrowed in the fourth quarter and the regional bank holding company set aside $756 million for bad loans.

KeyCorp set aside $551 million for bad loans for the year-ago quarter and $733 million for the third quarter of 2009.

Shares jumped 57 cents, or 8.2 percent, to $7.53

KeyCorp, based in Cleveland, said lost $265 million, or 30 cents per share, in the fourth quarter on revenue of $1.1 billion, helped by improved interest margins and fewer delinquencies.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected, on average, a loss of 39 cents per share on revenue of $1.06 billion.

“Although this remains a challenging environment, we are encouraged by the continued stabilization of the economy and some positive trends in our fourth quarter results,” said CEO Henry Meyer III.

Meyer said work over the past two years to strengthen capital and reserves had positioned the company “to emerge from this extraordinary period as a strong, competitive company” after seven straight quarterly losses.

KeyCorp, which operates across 14 states, lost $524 million in the comparable fourth quarter of 2008 when it cited ongoing woes in the economy and a large, noncash accounting charge.

The company wrote about $7.5 billion in new or renewed loans and its average deposits grew by $3 billion, or 5 percent, from the fourth quarter of 2008.

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