Western Alliance Bancorporation said Monday morning that it expected net income to drop nearly 75 percent as the regional banking operation increases its loan loss reserves. Net income for the fourth quarter is expected to be $0.09 per share, compared to earnings of $0.35 per share reported for the third quarter of 2007.

The bank holding company operates various banking franchises in Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and California, totalling $4.7 billion in assets.

In a brief press statement, the company said it would hike its loan loss provision to $13.9 million while absorbing $4.5 million in fourth quarter charge-offs. Western Alliance also said it would write down the value of its portfolio of subprime-backed securities from $9.5 million to $4.9 million during the fourth quarter.

No details regarding the nature of charge-offs, or what portfolio exposure led to the increase in reserves, was provided.

For more information, visit http://www.westernalliancebancorp.com.

Disclosure: The author held no positions in WAL when this post was originally published.