Banks exceed expectations

The "big four" Greek banks - Alpha, Eurobank, National and Piraeus - posted impressive first-half results, analysts say, focusing on their strong profitability and its main underlying cause, interest and commission fees, but also the quality of their assets and their liquidity, which led all to adjust their end-year goals upward.

NBG Securities notes that banks had a very strong second quarter, with improving trends in pre-provision income. This reflects interest rate hikes by the European Central Bank, the expanded loan portfolio, with new disbursements totaling €8.8 billion, and the improvement in operating expenses resulting from successful containment of costs. The higher turnover helped with the rising commission fees. Also, continuing offloading of nonperforming loans to funds enhanced the quality of their portfolio. Liquidity stayed high, as well.

Optima Bank...