National Bank

The Culture Ministry has completed its acquisition from the National Bank of an iconic cultural venue at a former industrial complex on Pireos Street near central Athens, in a 12.6-million-euro deal bankrolled through the Recovery Fund. 

The ministry has hailed the initiative as a "vital" part of plans to gentrify the capital's Elainos district and "elevate it into a cultural hub." 

Bank bailout fund HFSF confirmed on Thursday the sale of 22% of the share capital of National Bank, out of the total 40.39% currently held by the state, after the unprecedented sum of offers observed in the private placement, with the sale oversubscribed by more than eight times.

The Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) on Monday announced that it has agreed to sell its entire stake in Alpha and has started the process for that in National Bank.

Bank bailout fund (HFSF) executives have been working on two fronts.

Over the weekend they sought that UniCredit improve its offer for 8.9% of Alpha Bank, as the competitive process was completed last Friday without another offer submitted.

National Bank, Greece's second-largest lender by market value, on Tuesday reported higher net earnings in the first nine months of 2023 compared with the same period a year ago as net interest income rose.

NBG, 40% owned by the country's HFSF bank rescue fund, said net earnings reached 791 million euros from €680 million in the first nine months of 2022.

Goldman Sachs expects Greek banks to show strong results in the third quarter of the year as well, following the trend of the second quarter, with further strengthening of net interest income, which will be supported by the 50-basis point increase in interest rates, to which it is estimated that the European Central Bank will have progressed in the specific period.

The Athens Stock Exchange posted mild gains on low turnover Friday without venturing into negative territory. However, it ended lower for the week for a second consecutive time.

The general index closed at 1,319.52 points, a gain of 0.40%, on turnover of €76.1 million. Blue chips rose 0.41%, mid-caps 1.55% and banks 1.53%.

National Bank's goal is to become a "platform of cooperations" exploiting international trends and technologies toward improving customer experience and expanding its clientele even further, Pavlos Mylonas, the bank's CEO, said on Friday.

Greek software developer Εpsilon Net plans to double its sales in the 2023-2025 period, reaching 150 million euros by the end of 2025, chairman and CEO of the company Ioannis Michos told shareholders on Tuesday.

Standard & Poor's on Tuesday raised the outlook of credit ratings of Greek banks, citing significant progress achieved by the financial institutions.