BERLIN (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) is facing a triple-digit million euro hit to fourth-quarter earnings after failing to set aside enough provisions to cover claims resulting from a recent federal court decision, German business daily Handelsblatt reported.
The decision by the federal court in October allows customers to claim back administration fees on consumer loan contracts dating back to 2004. One consumer organisation estimated the amount of fees wrongly levied by the industry could reach 13 billion euros (9.7 billion pounds).
Handelsblatt cited financial sources as saying that the judgement wrongfooted Deutsche Bank and that the group had not set aside enough provisions.
Deutsche Bank declined to comment on the article, which is due to appear in Thursday's edition of the paper.
The bank will on Thursday report fourth-quarter results. Analysts expect Deutsche Bank to post a pre-tax loss of 83 million euros and 1 billion euros in litigation costs for the quarter, according to the median forecasts in a Reuters poll.
