FRANKFURT, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Restructuring costs and an increase in loan loss provisions pushed Commerzbank AG to a loss in the third quarter, as Germany's second-largest bank struggles to reshape itself in the wake the credit crisis.
Commerzbank continues to expect a net loss for the full year, and said loan loss provisions were set to rise to 1.05 billion from 628 million euros in the year-earlier period.
The rise in provisions was attributable to impairments on loans to foreign banks and the asset-based finance division, Commerzbank said.
For the remainder of the year Commerzbank said it anticipated a solid performance at the core private customer business and the mittelstandsbank segment, which specialises in lending to small- and medium-sized firms.

The Central and Eastern Europe segment and the asset-based finance segment "will continue to face difficult conditions in their respective markets," Chief Financial Officer Eric Strutz said in a statement.
The Frankfurt-based lender said a 1.05 billion euros net loss reflected about 650 million euros in writedowns, largely due to the restructuring of its real estate financing unit, and 900 million euros in charges for absorbing rival Dresdner Bank.
Analysts polled by Reuters had on average expected Commerzbank to post a net loss of 696 million euros.
Impairment gains on toxic assets at its portfolio restructuring unit helped Commerzbank post an operating profit of 120 million euros for the third quarter, better than the 94 million operating loss expected by analysts.
Commerzbank said it had already covered some of its funding needs for 2010 and repaid 10 billion euros in guarantees in the second and third quarter would also start paying back a government equity stake by 2012.
Commerzbank completed the acquisition of rival Dresdner Bank in January, at the height of the fallout from the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers. The costs of integrating Dresdner Bank, which it bought from insurer Allianz, would total around 2 billion euros in 2009 assuming normal market conditions.
(Reporting by Edward Taylor, editing by Sarah Edmonds) Keywords: COMMERZBANK

(edward.taylor@thomsonreuters.com; +49 69 7565 1187; Reuters Messaging: edward.taylor.reuters.com@reuters.net)

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