RBTT Bank Jamaica Ltd racked up $1.25 billion in losses during the 19 months to October 31, 2010, before a $383 million tax credit reduced the net loss to $864 million.

The bank actually saw its net interest income improve from the $5 billion it made during the 12 months to March 31, 2009 to $8.9 billion during the period under review.

However, a $2.66 billion impairment loss on loans and advances during the review period (compared to $175 million during the year ending March 31, 2009) dragged the company into a huge loss position.

RBTT reported $4 billion in impaired loans and advances at the end of last October but determined that it would increase the allowance for impairment loss for the 19-month period by $2.5 billion.

Of the total impairment losses, $1.35 billion was due to retail loans while $1.31 billion was commercial/corporate.

RBTT’s total loans net of provision for credit losses fell from $38.1 billion to $31.2 billion.

The loss wiped away the $687 million net profit RBTT made during the 12 months to March 31, 2009 while the bank’s retained earnings was whittled down to $68 million.

Nevertheless, RBTT’s equity position strenthened from $8.6 billion as at March 31, 2009 to $11.3 billion at the end of last Octoberdue primarily to a capital injection derived from a US$25 million ($2.2 billion) preference share issue in October 2009.

Additionally, a $1.3 billion reduction in the unrealised deficit on the revaluation of available-for-sale instrucments improved other reserves from $898 million at end March 2009 to $2.06 billion at end October 2010.