NBG makes 2018 NPE target from June
The second-quarter financial results published by the National Bank of Greece (NBG) on Friday reflected the gradual strengthening of operating profits and of liquidity, and the achievement of the target for the reduction of nonperforming exposures for the entire 2018 already from the first half of the year.
NBG completed in early July the sale of a 2-billion-euro bad-loan portfolio at 6 percent of the original value, which boosted its CET1 capital adequacy index by some 18 basis points. Chief Executive Pavlos Mylonas said the reduction of the NPE portfolio exceeds the target set by the European Central Bank’s Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) for Q2 by 1.3 billion euros.
The lender showed operating profits of 44 million euros in April-June, up from 25 million in the previous quarter, as a result of the significant reduction of the credit risk cost to about 110 basis points.
The outlook for the rest of the year is seen as positive, with a voluntary redundancy program for some 500 employees and the further containment of the general and administrative expenses, the bank stated.
