Ambitious target set for the reduction of banks' bad loans

Nonperforming exposures (NPEs) of Greek banks will have to be reduced by 40.2 billion euros in the next three years, while bad loans (that do not include arranged debts) must go down by 38.1 billion, according to a report issued on Wednesday by the Bank of Greece.

The target is for NPEs to be reduced from 106.9 billion euros today to 66.7 billion at end-2019, while bad loans must go down from 78.3 billion to 40.2 billion.

The "ambitious but realistic targets" set have the agreement of the four systemic banks (Alpha, National, Eurobank and Piraeus) as well as the three smaller ones (Attica, Pancretan and Hania Cooperative), according to the central bank's report.