Royal Bank of Canada today reported a 27% drop in profit for the second quarter ended April 30, on previously announced writedowns and higher provisions for credit losses.

RBC, Canada’s biggest bank, said its profit for the second quarter of 2008 was $928 million, or 70¢ a share on revenue of $4.95 billion, down from a profit of $1.28 billion, or 98¢ a share on revenue of $5.67 billion a year earlier.

The bank attributed the profit drop mainly to previously announced writedowns.

“We are not happy about these writedowns and continue to be impacted by higher provisions for credit losses in our U.S. banking business,” CEO Gordon Nixon said in a news release.

“However, we are confident in the fundamental strength of our operations and are building our businesses in Canada, the U.S. and internationally for long-term growth. In particular, our Canadian banking operations continue to demonstrate solid growth.”

The bank reported writedowns that knocked down revenue by $854 million and reduced net income by $436 million, or 33¢ per share.

RBC’s provisions for credit losses totalled $349 million, versus $188 million in the prior-year period.

The bank’s Canadian banking division saw net income rise 15% to $708 million.

U.S. and international banking net income fell 43% to $38 million, dragged down by the provisions for credit losses that reflected higher impaired loans in the bank’s residential builder finance and retail loan portfolios.

The bank’s capital markets division saw profits decline to $13 million from a year-earlier $350 million as it took a $323 million after-tax writedown.

The bank said it saw some improvements from declining interest rates and the investment division benefited from increased market volatility, particularly in its fixed income, foreign exchange and equity derivatives trading businesses.