Syndicate Bank posts Q4 net loss of Rs 22 billion

State-run Syndicate Bank Ltd reported a fourth-quarter net loss of 21.58 billion rupees ($323 million) on sharply higher provisions and also due to a one-off charge on what the bank called a major fraud in three of its branches.

Syndicate Bank said it wrote off 8.83 billion rupees ($132.10 million) on account of a fraud, that was discovered at its three branches in the northern state of Rajasthan. The bank, which first disclosed the fraud in March, said transactions had been carried out based on fake cheques and letters of credit over the past four years.

Provisions, including for loan losses, more than tripled to 24.12 billion rupees from a year earlier, the lender said in a regulatory filing.

Gross bad loans, as a percentage of total loans, widened to 6.7% in March compared with 4.61% in December 2015.