Alpha Bank's profits squeezed on provisions in Q3

Alpha Bank on Thursday reported lower third-quarter profit compared to the previous quarter after booking higher provisions for impaired loans.

Alpha's net profit from continuing operations was 35.6 million euros, down from 70.7 million in the second quarter.

The results were above market expectations as analysts had expected net earnings from continuing operations of about 23 million euros.

In the second quarter, the bank, Greece's fourth-largest lender by assets, had a one-off loss of 69.4 million euros on the sale of its Serbian subsidiary.

Alpha's ratio of nonperforming loans edged lower to 37.3 percent of its book from 37.6 percent at the end of June.

Loan write-offs at home reached 500 million euros in the quarter, and provisions for bad debt rose 38 percent quarter-on-quarter to 298 million euros from 217 million in Q2.

[Reuters]