trending Market Intelligence /marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/GhXveCrcXkmd98ZNCKo21g2 content esgSubNav
In This List

National Bank of Greece sees Q2 profit rise, eyes faster bad loan reduction

Podcast

Street Talk Episode 87

Blog

A New Dawn for European Bank M&A Top 5 Trends

Blog

Insight Weekly: US banks' loan growth; record share buybacks; utility M&A outlook

Blog

Banking Essentials Newsletter 2021: December Edition


National Bank of Greece sees Q2 profit rise, eyes faster bad loan reduction

National Bank of Greece SA said it expects to see a "faster than planned" reduction of its nonperforming exposures, as it reported profit increases in the second quarter and the first half.

The Greek lender booked second quarter profit after tax from continued operations of €122 million, up from €22 million a year earlier. After-tax profit from discontinued operations for the period came in at €82 million, compared to the year-ago €13 million.

National Bank of Greece said it has already reduced its NPEs by €2.5 billion year to date, and would need to make another €1.8 billion cut to reach its NPE reduction target of €4.3 billion by 2019-end. This will be achieved through the sale of a secured corporate and small business loans portfolio, the disposals of shipping and Cypriot and Romanian loan portfolios, as well as further restructurings and liquidations, it noted.

Net interest income rose on a yearly basis to €309 million from €276 million, while net fees and commissions ticked up to €61 million from €57 million. Core income also increased over the period, to €370 million from €333 million, while trading and other income reached €51 million, compared to a loss of €30 million a year earlier.

The bank's pre-provision income was up year over year to €217 million from €80 million.

Loan impairments widened on a yearly basis to €101 million from €38 million. The lender booked reversals from other impairments of €11 million, compared to a charge of €11 million a year ago.

For the first half, National Bank of Greece booked profit after tax from continuing operations of €253 million, an increase from the year-ago €48 million. After-tax profit from discontinued operations was €103 million for the first half, compared to €32 million a year earlier.

As of June 30, the bank's NPE ratio stood at 36.5%, down from 40.9% at 2018-end and 42.4% a year ago. Its NPE coverage ratio was 56.0% at June-end, compared to 59.1% at the end of 2018 and 60.2% a year earlier.

The lender's common equity Tier 1 ratio reached 16.0% at the end of June, compared to 16.1% at Dec. 31, 2018 and 16.2% at June 30, 2018.