Eurobank CEO expects to beat bad debt reduction target

Eurobank is confident of beating this year's sour loan reduction target agreed with European Central Bank supervisors and plans to make further progress by 2021, the chief executive of Greece's third largest lender said on Monday.

So-called non-performing exposures (NPEs) are the biggest challenge facing the country's banking sector, hit hard by the eurozone's debt crisis and years of deep recession.

Central bank data this month showed the total stock of NPEs on Greek banks' books amounted to 88.6 billion euros ($103.1 billion), or 47.6 percent of their combined loan book, at the end of the second quarter.

"There is no doubt that successful NPE management will be the litmus test for us," CEO Fokion Karavias told Reuters in an interview. "We are fully aware of the challenge, but recent results allow room for rational optimism."

Banks have been under...