Alpha targets NPL ratio below 10 pct
The management at Alpha Bank is targeting the full restoration of the lender’s profits and has drafted a strategic plan aimed at streamlining its financial figures through the securitization of bad loans worth up to 12 billion euros.
The blueprint, expected to be completed in the first half of 2020, provides for the reduction of the nonperforming loans ratio from 44 percent today to below 10 percent by end-2022.
Chief executive Vassilis Psaltis told a press conference on Wednesday that the catalysts for preparing the securitization through the hiving off of Alpha’s bad-loan unit have been the maturation of a series of conditions, including the improvement of business sentiment and the strengthening of confidence, the rise in property prices and the creation of the state-guaranteed instrument (the Hercules plan) with the support of the Single Supervisory Mechanism.
The Alpha chief said the plan will lead to a significant reduction of the lender’s provisions, thereby strengthening the bank’s profits and creating the conditions for boosting capital. Psaltis said the success of the securitization depends on an assurance from the SSM that the state-guaranteed bonds to be issued will not have an impact on the bank’s capital.
