By Niket Nishant and Manya Saini

(Reuters) -New York Community Bancorp delayed its profitability goal by a year after posting its fourth straight quarterly loss, in a sign of stress from its exposure to commercial real estate despite efforts to cut costs and sell non-core assets.

Its shares closed down 8.2% on Friday after NYCB said in its third-quarter earnings report that it would be profitable only by 2026.

Since posting a surprise quarterly loss in January, the lender has been under pressure. It has regained some poise after a shake-up of its management that has vowed to reduce its CRE loan book.

Borrowers are under pressure as remote work dampens the demand for office buildings and elevated interest rates squeeze multi-family loans, resulting in a four-fold jump in loan-loss provisions to $242 million for NYCB in the third quarter.

"We continue to proactively manage our problem loans and take appropriate action to de-risk the loan portfolio," CEO Joseph Otting said.

Ballooning charge-offs - debt written off as unlikely to be recovered - have led regional lenders to increase provisions to cover the CRE sector. NYCB reported net charge-offs of $388 million on existing loans in its office portfolio.

The lender was aiming to breakeven or make a profit of 5 cents per share in 2025, but now expects to report a per share loss of 30 cents to 35 cents.

It also trimmed its forecast for 2026 profit, expecting 75 cents to 80 cents per share, compared with its prior forecast of $1.25 to $1.30.

MOUNTING LOSSES

To turn its fortunes around, NYCB has also sold assets and brought on board an investor consortium led by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's Liberty Strategic Capital.

But the process may take longer than expected as the bank navigates interest rate uncertainty and high deposit costs.

"We're exploring all opportunities to reduce our non-accrual portfolio," the bank said.

Earlier this month, it decided to cut 700 jobs, representing 8% of its total workforce. Additionally, 1,200 more employees are set to leave the bank as it completes the divestiture of its mortgage servicing and third-party origination business.

Meanwhile, net interest income - the difference between what a bank earns off loans and pays out on deposits - slumped 42% to $510 million.

Net loss available to common shareholders was $289 million, or 79 cents per share, in the third quarter, compared with a profit of $199 million, or 81 cents per share, a year ago.

On an adjusted basis, per share loss of 69 cents was bigger than analysts' estimates of 40 cents, according to data compiled by LSEG.