Frankfurt - Leading German retail bank Postbank AG reported Thursday a 19-per-cent drop in first-quarter earnings as a result of writedowns linked to the US subprime mortgage market crisis.

Bonn-based Postbank, which is the banking offshoot of the German postal and logistics service group Deutsche Post AG, said net earnings dropped to 116 million euros (179 million dollars) from 144 million euros in the same quarter last year.

Postbank's writedowns linked to the US subprime crisis, which has hit bank earnings around the world, came in at 174 million euros during the first quarter.

However, Postbank confirmed that it expects pre-tax profit to rise this year to 1.2 billion euros from 1 billion euros last year. (dpa)