At a rate below 7%, from 7.6% at the end of the first quarter, the ratio of non-performing loans (NPL) Alfa Bank until the end of 2023. Results of the first quarter bank showed a decline IEA by 23 basis points compared to the previous quarter and, as Lazaros Papagarifallou, Group Chief Financial Officer of Alpha Bank, estimated in the context of an analyst briefing, “2023 will be the year we see a further organic reduction in non-performing exposure.”

According to Mr. Papagarifallu, the 39% reduction in non-performing risks compared to the corresponding quarter of 2022 reflects, on the one hand, less organic formation of new MEAs, as well as targeted actions taken by the bank in 2022. Significant consolidation of the MEA portfolio, on which the bank has made progress, has brought the cost of credit risk to 75 basis points, better than the 85 basis point target for 2023, and according to Group CEO Vassilis Psaltis, this trend “reflects the conscious decision we have made as a management team to take risks in recent years.”

In the first quarter, the bank reduced bad loans by 39% year on year.

It should be noted that Alfa Bank announced a few days ago that it had entered into a binding agreement to sell Fortress and Davidson Kempner the Hermes project, a portfolio of overdue loans from Greek large companies and small and medium-sized enterprises, for a total book value of 650 million euros. The new agreement is the culmination of the latest phase of a successful balance sheet consolidation process and adds to a series of transactions that the bank has implemented since 2018 and resulted in an MEA cap of more than €25 billion.

Also of particular importance is the structure of the NPE portfolio, which remains on the bank’s balance sheet, with a large share of regulated current claims overdue by less than 90 days (45% of the total or 1.3 billion euros), and the share of NPE is 3 billion euros, more half of which are housing loans (52.1% of the total). As for non-performing loans, they amount to 1.4 billion euros, which is only 4% of the bank’s loan portfolio, with a coverage ratio of 139%, while at the group level the corresponding percentage is 3.9% and a coverage ratio of 141%. .

Reports from Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Wood & Company, Axia and Morgan Stanley confirm the high upside potential of Alpha Bank’s shares, with the top three investment houses reporting the bank’s reported earnings at least 30% above their initial estimates. . At the same time, attention is paid at home to the Alfa-Bank Investor Day, which will be held on June 7, where the bank’s management will present an updated strategic plan for 2023-2025, as well as revised goals for 2023.