Non-performing loan

Eurozone banks are still seeing a "high" number of loans go unpaid and borrowers declare default despite years of economic growth, the European Central Bank's top supervisor Andrea Enria said on Friday.
But Enria also praised the sector's "ambitious" plans to reduce a mountain of nonperforming loans (NPLs) inherited from the last recession.

Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras has called for a systemic solution to the looming problem of Greek banks' huge amount of non-performing loans (NPLs).

The IMF said on Tuesday that economic growth in Cyprus is gradually decelerating but remains strong, buoyed by the services and construction sectors which are partly financed with foreign direct investment.

Moody's today maintained its positive outlook for the Greek banking system despite serious challenges that still lie ahead due to expected improvements in funding and asset risk management.

Alpha Bank, Greece's fourth largest lender, on Thursday reported reported a drop in profit in the first quarter, hurt by lower trading gains and a fall in net interest income.
Its net profit from continuing operations was 27.5 million euros, down from 65.4 million euros in the same period a year earlier.
It posted a net loss of 800,000 euros in the last quarter of 2018.

DBRS has assigned a BB (low) rating to Pillar Finance DAC, which is the first public nonperforming loans transaction executed in Greece.

A Greek joint-venture between Italian debt collector Fire and investment firm StormHarbour has secured a license to operate in the country's impaired loan market, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.

The managing officers of real estate investment companies as well as foreign funds exploring the Greek market in search of opportunities have their eyes fixed on the real estate assets in the portfolios of secured nonperforming loans that were sold last year.

The intentions of investment funds active in purchasing nonperforming loans portfolios in Greece, having placed some 1.3 billion euros in the market to date, will be tested in 2019, as Alpha Bank, National and Piraeus are planning fresh sales adding up to more than 6 billion euros.

The desire of Greek banks to rid themselves of the burden that thousands of repossessed real estate properties put on their expenses is reshaping the country's property sector, local market professionals told Xinhua in recent interviews.