Alpha back in black on strong trading income

Alpha Bank turned profitable in January-to-March as strong trading gains offset higher provisions for loan impairments and weaker net interest income, Greece's fourth-largest bank by assets said on Thursday.

Alpha, 11 percent owned by the country's bank rescue fund HFSF, reported net earnings from continuing operations of 65.2 million euros after a net loss of 64 million euros in the fourth quarter of 2017.

"We delivered a profitable performance despite headwinds on net interest income and elevated cost of risk charges," CEO Dimitris Mantzounis said in a statement, referring to the loan impairments.

"Our funding profile improved significantly as we continued toward the elimination of ELA support, while we reduced the stock of NPEs, outperforming our business plan targets," he said.

Alpha's bad-debt provisions jumped 38 percent quarter-on-quarter...