* Profit falls 90 pct, falls short of lowered forecasts

* CEO says economic "malaise" hurt loan portfolio

* Shares fall 4 pct in regular trading

NEW YORK, April 22 (Reuters) - Raymond James Financial Inc (RJF.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Wednesday said quarterly profit dropped 90 percent, falling short of already-lowered Wall Street forecasts, as the large U.S. brokerage was hurt by an abnormally high level of bad loans at its banking unit.

Profit for the St. Petersburg, Florida-based company fell to $6.1 million, or 5 cents per share, from $59.8 million, or 50 cents, for the fiscal second quarter ended March 31. Net revenue fell 15 perecnt to $589.7 million.

Analysts on average expected profit of 10 cents per share on revenue of $603.5 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

They had been expecting profit of 38 cents per share before Raymond James on April 14 said it would be only "nominally profitable" in the quarter. Shares fell 13.5 percent the next day.

"The malaise in the financial sector, which has migrated to the general economy, has manifested itself in Raymond James Bank's loan portfolio," Chief Executive Thomas James said. "I expect conditions to be difficult in the securities sector for at least the remainder of 2009."

Raymond James set aside $75 million for credit losses in its bank, up from $24.9 million in the prior three-month period, while nonperforming loans more than doubled in the quarter to $142.6 million.