Piraeus Bank sees 2019 profits grow

Piraeus Bank grew full-year 2019 net profit, helped by lower operating costs and higher net interest income, Greece’s largest lender by assets said on Monday.

Piraeus Bank, which is 26.2 percent owned by the country’s HFSF bank rescue fund, reported a net profit of 270 million euros after net earnings of 185 million in 2018.

It said it included a 351-million-euro pre-tax gain from the carve-out of internal bad loans to Intrum Hellas in the fourth quarter.

The bank said its nonperforming exposures (NPEs) ratio stood at 49 percent at the end of December, with group NPEs at 24.5 billion euros, down by 3 billion year-on-year.

[Reuters]