NPES

Greece's third-largest lender Eurobank on Thursday reported a sharp quarterly rise in net profit in July to September, on higher fee revenues and gains from international operations.

In a proposal by the Bank of Greece that it has processed and is expected to publish in its Report on the Stability of the Credit System on November 22, the country's central bank recommends the utilization of deferred tax assets for the reduction of local banks' nonperforming loans.

The key condition for banks to hit their targets for reducing nonperforming exposures is that property prices continue to climb, according to the National Bank's chief executive officer, Pavlos Mylonas.

He was speaking at the Capital+Vision conference, organized by the German-Greek Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in Athens on Monday.

The Greek banking sector remains under pressure due to the low quality of its assets due to the high amount of nonperforming exposures (NPEs), Moody's said in a report released on Wednesday, just after Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras had expressed confidence in the local banking system.

The government is considering the creation of an asset protection scheme to form part of Athens's overall strategy toward the reduction of nonperforming exposures (NPEs), sources said on Thursday, effectively offering state guarantees for bad-loan clearance.

Kathimerini understands Greek banks have made a pledge to the European Central Bank's Single Supervisory Mechanism that they will cut their nonperforming exposures (NPEs) to 17-22 percent of their portfolios by 2021, compared to today's highs of 43-54 percent.

Eurobank is confident of beating this year's sour loan reduction target agreed with European Central Bank supervisors and plans to make further progress by 2021, the chief executive of Greece's third largest lender said on Monday.

A report by the Bank of Greece on the decline of nonperforming exposures (NPEs) on Thursday served as a warning for local lenders, because it shows that in the first half of the year Greek banks missed out on their commitment on bad loan reduction.

Fourteen companies are now licensed by the Bank of Greece to operate in the domestic debt management sector, after the approval on Tuesday of applications from LPN Capital and Melfin. The intense interest seen over the past two years stems from the acceleration of sales to specialized companies of large portfolios of bad loans.

Banks are expected to sell more unserviced corporate loans in 2018 and 2019, in their effort to achieve nonperforming loan reduction targets, according to the Monetary Report that the Bank of Greece published on Monday. The report found that while the sale process is continuing, the pace has slowed.