Alpha Bank posts 9-month loss, provisions weigh

Alpha Bank, Greece's fourth-largest lender by assets, on Saturday reported a loss in the first nine months of the year compared to a profit in the same period last year as provisions for impaired loans continued to hurt its bottom line.

Alpha, about 66 percent owned by the country's bank rescue fund HFSF, posted a net loss of 838.4 million euros ($922.7 million) in the Jan.-to-Sept. period versus a profit of 129.3 million euros in the same period last year.

Alpha's non-performing credit rose to 36.5 percent of its loan book at end-September from 33.8 percent in the first quarter.

Results of the European Central Bank's health check, released earlier on Saturday, showed that Alpha needs to cover a capital shortfall of 2.743 billion euros under the adverse scenario of the stress test.

The bank had the smallest capital shortfall among Greece's four big banks under the ECB's baseline scenario at 263 million euros. 

[Reuters]