National turns profitable on lower provisions

National Bank (NBG) turned profitable in January-to-March helped by lower provisions for bad loans, Greece’s second-largest lender by assets said on Thursday.

NBG, 40 percent owned by the country’s bank rescue fund HFSF, reported a net profit from continued operations of 20 million euros versus a net loss of 60 million euros in the fourth quarter.

NBG said loan impairments fell 40 percent quarter-on-quarter to 120 million euros.

Its ratio of nonperforming exposures, which includes nonperforming loans and other credit likely to turn bad, edged lower to 42.7 percent from 43.7 percent in December 2017.

[Reuters]