Greek lenders Alpha and Eurobank reported a drop in profit in the first quarter of 2019, hurt by lower trading gains and a fall in net interest income.

Alpha Bank, Greece’s fourth largest lender, reported net profit from continuing operations of €27.5 million, down from €65.4 million in the same period a year earlier. It reported a net loss of € 800,000 in the last quarter of 2018.

The lender, 11% owned by the country’s bank rescue fund HFSF, said provisions for non-performing loans (NPL) fell to €178.3 million from €336 million in the same period a year earlier and €669 million the fourth quarter.

Greek banks ae working to reduce their NPL stocks and meet targets on so-called non-performing exposures (NPEs) agreed with European Central Bank regulators.

Alpha’s non-performing loans ratio dropped to 33% of its book from 33.5% at the end of December.

Peer Eurobank, Greece’s third-largest by assets, reported a 43% drop in net profit from continued operations compared to the same period a year earlier, hurt by a fall in net interest income.

Eurobank, which is 2.4% owned by the country’s HFSF bank rescue fund, reported net earnings of €20 million, down from a profit €35 million in the first quarter of 2018.

Credit loss provisions fell 1.5% year-on-year to €165 million. So-called non-performing exposures (NPEs) dropped to 36.7% of its loan book from 37% at the end of December. The company said cleaning up its balance sheet remained its top priority.

According to information from Reuters, Eurobank has received binding offers for a €2-billion securitization of sour residential mortgages and non-binding offers for a multi-asset securitization of about € 7.5 billion.

Original Story: Reuters | George Georgiopoulos 
Photo: Site Alpha Bank
Edition:Prime Yield