National Bank, which is 40 percent owned by bank rescue fund HFSF after a recapitalisation last year, said on Tuesday its net loss widened to 889 million euros ($987.2 million) from 195 million euros in the third quarter, excluding assets and earnings from terminated operations.
The bank posted a net loss of 1.11 billion euros in the fourth quarter of 2014 after provisions for bad loans and other one-off charges hit 1.47 billion.
NBG clinched a deal in late December to sell its 99.8 percent stake in Finansbank to Qatar National Bank for 2.75 billion euros as part of moves to plug a capital shortfall identified by European Central Bank stress tests in October.
Provisions for bad loans
Its provisions for bad loans in Greece jumped to 671 million euros in the fourth quarter from 232 million euros in the previous three months.
“The group increased its level of provisioning to cover a deficit in provisions and has thus raised the coverage of loans in arrears for more than 90 days to 76.8 percent from 60.2 percent in 2014,” Chief Executive Leonidas Fragiadakis said.
He said that despite liquidity pressures in the sector, NBG had contained its dependence on central bank funding to 17 percent of assets.
At the group level, non-performing credit, or loans in arrears for more than 90 days, edged up to 33.1 percent of NBG’s loan book from 33.0 percent at the end of September.
Deposits rose 2.6 percent
In Greece, the amount of non-performing loans rose by 86 million euros in the fourth quarter, slower than the 406 million euros increase in new bad loans three months earlier.
NBG said deposits rose 2.6 percent from the previous quarter to 43 billion euros, reflecting a 0.8 billion euro inflow in the fourth quarter.
Borrowing from the ECB and the Bank of Greece fell to 24 billion euros from 25.6 billion in the third quarter. Funding from the Greek central bank’s emergency window dropped by 4.1 billion euros to 11.5 billion euros at the end of the year.
Source: Reuters
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