Piraeus Bank swings to loss as loan-loss provisions rise

Piraeus Bank, Greece's largest lender by assets, on Monday reported a first-quarter loss after "frontloading" loan impairment provisions to take into account the impact of the coronavirus crisis.

Piraeus Bank, which is 26.2% owned by the country's HFSF bank rescue fund, reported a net loss of 232 million euros ($258.08 million) compared with a net profit of 14 million euros in the same period a year earlier.

The coronavirus pandemic struck just as Greece's banks were making headway in their bid to sell, write off or restructure billions of euros of bad debt accumulated during the last financial crisis.

Piraeus said the worse-than-previously-expected macroeconomic outlook led to incremental impairments of 324 million euros, reflecting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Taking into account its effect on trading, the total impact amounted to 370 million...