Banks: Standing by Attica Bank – Pangretes for new securitisations in “Herakles 3”

Pending the submission of new requests for securitisations under “Herakles 3” , the plan for the securitisations of Attica Bank and the Maghreb Bank is in progress. The two banks have sent the data of loans that they want to securitise to DBRS and are awaiting the assessment of the house that is pre-requisite to identify loans from their balance sheets. After the assessment, the two banks will each submit a request to the Ministry of National Economy and Finance for the inclusion of securitisations in the programme “Herakles 3” and the receipt of state guarantees. The request is expected by the end of April, when the amount of state guarantees to be used by the guarantee package, amounting to 2 billion euros, of “Heraklis 3” and the need for enlargement of the package will be shown. The four systemic banks look forward to “Herakles 3” further reducing their unperforming loans to the 3% target set by SSM for 2025. Some of the banks are very little away from the target, although it should be noted that the average European average of the NPE index is almost 2%. According to the results notices 2023, a lead in reducing the NPE ratio is given by Eurobank. The bank reduced the unperforming exposure index to 3.5% in 2023, from 5.2% in 2022. The total NPEs fell by EUR 644 million compared to 2022 and were set at EUR 1.5 billion or 0.2 billion after forecasts. The formation of new NPEs was positive by EUR 138 million in 2023, but significantly lower than initial forecasts. Spectacular progress in reducing unperforming loans was recorded by Piraeus Bank, reducing the NPE index by half, to 3.5% in 2023, from 6.8% a year ago. The Group’s NPE retreated to 1.3 billion euros at the end of December 2023, compared to 2.6 billion a year ago. At the National Bank the index of non-performing exposures was set at 3.7% at Group level. The ACEs were formed at 1.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023, or 0.2 billion euros after forecasts. Net ACE flows amounted to only around EUR 50 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, with the total ACE reduction being EUR 0,5 billion for 2023. Finally, Alpha Bank reduced the index of non-performing exposures at Group level to 6%, by 120 p.m. below 3rd quarter 2023. At an organic level, non-performing exposures in Greece decreased by 0.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023, as higher inputs were fully offset by the regular service of loans (curings) and repayments. In the fourth quarter, non-performing exposures at Group level decreased by EUR 0.6 billion on a quarterly basis and amounted to EUR 2.2 billion