Hellenic Financial Stability Fund

Morgan Stanley sees that while steps have been taken to drastically reduce Greek banks' bad loans, several obstacles remain in their way. The international bank's report on Monday followed meetings between Morgan Stanley officials and representatives from the country's four systemic banks, as well as from Grivalia, the Bank of Greece and the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund.

Greek banks remain cautious about the two alternative proposals for the securitization of nonperforming loans (NPLs) presented to them by the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) and the Bank of Greece. They expect to see details and want to know whether one or both of them obtain European Commission clearance, local bankers told a forum in Athens on Friday.

The quality of Greek banks' assets and their levels of capital constitute the biggest challenges for the sector in 2019, and these two factors will also determine the course of Greece's assessment by its creditors, Fitch analysts noted on Tuesday at an event in Athens.

The course of the Greek economy will depend on the capacity of the country's banks to reduce their nonperforming exposures to a satisfactory degree without requiring any additional capital, warns Martin Czurda, the chief executive officer of the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF), in an interview to Kathimerini.

In early January, as soon as the holidays are over, the Finance Ministry is expected to submit the Greek proposal for the reduction of local banks' nonperforming exposures (NPEs), which has been processed by the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) with technical details specified by JP Morgan, to the Directorate-General for Competition (DG Comp) of the European Commission.

Piraeus Bank has formally secured an extension from the European Central Bank for the coverage of its 500-million-euro corporate bond that will count toward its Tier II capital.

Kathimerini understands that the ECB's Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) has given Greece's leading bank in assets a nine-month extension from the original deadline of December 31.

Fitch Ratings has reservations about the Bank of Greece's plan aimed at the reduction of local banks' bad loans, owing to a number of unknown factors that it has discerned.

Alpha Bank turned profitable in July-to-September on stronger trading gains compared to the second quarter, and lower credit-loss provisions, Greece's fourth-largest lender by assets said on Thursday.

National Bank, Greece's second-largest by assets and 40 percent owned by the country's HFSF bank rescue fund, on Thursday reported a net profit from continued operations of 17 million euros in the third quarter, versus a net loss of 15 million euros in the second quarter.

Greece's third-largest lender Eurobank on Thursday reported a sharp quarterly rise in net profit in July to September, on higher fee revenues and gains from international operations.