National Bank widens loss in Q4

Greece’s second largest lender National Bank (NBG) widened its loss in the fourth quarter after booking higher provisions for impaired loans.

NBG, 40 percent owned by the country’s bank rescue fund HFSF, on Wednesday reported a net loss from continued operations of 60 million euros versus a net loss of 44 million euros in the third quarter.

“NBG has managed to maintain a solid pace of NPE reduction throughout the last two years, reducing its stock by about 4.2 billion euros since the end of 2015, covering half the distance to the 2019 target,” NBG CEO Leonidas Fragiadakis said.

NBG’s loan impairments rose 29 percent to 200 million euros quarter-on-quarter while its ratio of nonperforming exposures – which include loans past due for more than 90 days plus other credit likely to turn bad – dropped to 44 percent from 44.9 percent in December 2016.

[Reuters]