Non-performing loan

Greek banks had the highest ratio of non-performing loans (NPLs) among banks supervised by the European Central Bank in the third quarter, followed by those of Cyprus, Portugal and Italy, the ECB said on Wednesday.

Alpha Bank's management has designed a strategy to reduce nonperforming loans and transform the group so that it can "turn the page," the lender's CEO Vassilis Psaltis tells Kathimerini, stressing that the Greek economy is on a steady growth path and that the international investment community is regaining faith in the country's prospects.

Greece's plan to cut bad loans at Greek lenders by up to 30 billion euros and the country's fiscal targets were discussed in a meeting between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the new president of the European Central Bank (ECB) Christine Lagarde in Frankfurt on Tuesday.

The agreement between Piraeus Bank and Swedish group Intrum is one of the biggest foreign investments and the biggest Swedish investment in Greece (410 million euros).

The management at Alpha Bank is targeting the full restoration of the lender's profits and has drafted a strategic plan aimed at streamlining its financial figures through the securitization of bad loans worth up to 12 billion euros.

Everyone can understand the difficulties that Greek banks face in managing the jumble of problems they inherited from the long-term economic crisis.

One can also understand the problems that the management of banks face today as they operate in an environment of limited capital, a lack of revenues, and low profitability.

The Bank of Greece will activate a plan to resolve the 60 pct of nonperforming loans (NPLs) not covered by the "Hercules" plan proposed by the government, bank governor Yannis Stournaras revealed while speaking at the Thessaloniki Summit 2019 on Friday evening.

The stockpile of bad bank loans in the European Union has halved over the past four years but remains hefty at lenders in Greece and Cyprus, the bloc's banking watchdog said on Friday.

Alpha Bank is awaiting binding offers from three short-listed investors for the concession of its nonperforming corporate loan portfolio dubbed "Neptune," testing investor interest in the largest portfolio of secured corporate loans put up for sale by a Greek lender to date.

The government is seeking out additional systemic solutions for the banks' bad-loan problem, beyond the state's Hercules plan, Finance Minister Christos Staikouras revealed to Bloomberg on Thursday. His comments came after Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras said that Hercules is a step in the right direction but is not enough.