Israel's Bank Leumi moves to Q1 loss due to coronavirus outbreak

TEL AVIV, May 27 (Reuters) - Bank Leumi, one of Israel’s two largest lenders, swung to a loss in the first quarter due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Leumi said on Wednesday it lost 232 million shekels ($66 million) in the quarter, compared with a net profit of 1.09 billion a year earlier.

The bank warned last week it would post a net loss in the quarter of 200-300 million shekels due to an increase in credit loss provisions and capital market losses.

It posted loan loss expenses of 860 million shekels, compared with recoveries of 18 million a year earlier, due to the coronavirus crisis, which also hurt the financial markets in the January-March period. ($1 = 3.5138 shekels) (Reporting by Tova Cohen Editing by Steven Scheer)