Hellenic Bank posts 28.6-mln-euro profit in Q1

Source: Xinhua | 2018-06-04

The Hellenic Bank, Cyprus's third largest lender, generated a profit of 28.6 million euros (33.3 million U.S. dollars) during the first quarter of 2018, compared to a 10.1-million-euro loss in the same quarter last year, a bank statement revealed Friday.

The profit also compares to a loss of 27 million euros during the last quarter of 2017.

The bank said its profits came from the sale of Cypriot government bonds and the initial effects of a voluntary retirement plan applied last year.

Hellenic Bank announced it had increased provisions for non-performing loans to 62 percent. Red loans dropped slightly, it said, as a result of selling off non-performing loans worth 145 million euros to B2Kapital Cyprus, a firm which specializes in bad loans.

The statement said non-serviced loans fell 34 million euros in a quarter to 2.1 billion euros at the end of March, 52.1 percent of its total loan portfolio.

This, the statement added, was 21 percent below the peak.

Hellenic Bank is one of two investors interested in the purchase of the good part of the Cyprus Cooperative Bank, which remained after the government acquired non-performing loans of about 6.5 billion euros by pumping 2.5 billion euros into the state-owned lender.

The bank said its core equity tier 1 (CET1) capital ratio stood at 13.9 percent at the end of the first quarter, while its capital adequacy ratio stood at 17.6 percent.