A special wholesale loss provision recorded in the fourth quarter also amounted to $171 million after taxes.

The company, in explaining the additional loss provision, cited the Texas real estate market and higher-than-anticipated operating costs.

It was unclear to what extent the bank had established a loss provision for these loans.

But he said that despite lower loss provisions, the bank would find it difficult to match its 1993 record operating profit of 5.266 billion marks.

The bank's net loss was $554 million following its decision to make a special loss provision of $700 million.

The cushion was nearly twice the size of the bank's loss provisions for all loans in 1996.

American Express said it was increasing its loss provision because of growth in volume.

"If we had not made this loss provision, our earnings in the second quarter would have exceeded $3 per share."

The 1987 results include a total of $908 million in additional loss provisions for loans for debt to developing countries.

As a result of the increased loss provision, the company lost $198.9 million for the fourth quarter.