Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Banca Comerciala Romana SA, Romania’s largest bank, said nine-month profit fell 86 percent from a year earlier to 67.6 million lei ($22 million), citing rising bad-loan costs.

Net-interest income, or the difference between money paid on deposits and earnings on loans, dropped 17 percent to 2.4 billion lei, the Bucharest-based bank said today in an e-mailed statement. The bank, which is controlled by Erste Group Bank AG, had a loss of 90.5 million lei in the third quarter, according to the statement.

“The recovery has been slower than expected," Chief Executive Officer Dominic Bruynseels said in the statement. "This is reflected in our customers’ business and income and therefore affects their transactions with BCR,”

--Editors: Balazs Penz, James Kraus

To contact the reporter on this story: Irina Savu in Bucharest at isavu@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James M. Gomez at jagomez@bloomberg.net