Higher core income bolsters NBG profits

National Bank (NBG), one of Greece's four largest lenders, on Monday reported higher third-quarter net profit compared to the second quarter on stronger fee and net interest income.

NBG, 40% owned by the country's HFSF bank rescue fund, said net profit from continued operations reached 137 million euros, versus net earnings of €58 million in the second quarter.

NBG said its ratio of nonperforming exposures (NPEs), which includes nonperforming loans (NPLs) and other credit likely to turn bad, eased to 29.3% of its loan book from 29.9% in June.

The bank said it plans to launch the securitization of its "Project Frontier" impaired loans portfolio in a few weeks, a transaction that will slash its current €10 billion NPE exposure by about €6 billion.

"Our exposure to legacy NPEs is set to be reduced to levels previously experienced almost a...