National Bank of Greece (ADR) (NYSE:NBG) has been reporting significant improvements in terms of recovering bad loans. The EU had to provide the country with three bailout packages to help solve problems with the country’s banking sector. Furthermore, the Greek economy ministry has announced that it would be providing assistance to the country’s banking sector, after the elections due to be held this month. The ministry plans to do this by establishing a new group with members from international creditors to gain assistance for the banks.
The deteriorating problem of bad loans had been a cause of concern for the banking sector and EU nations alike. Mainly, a series of bank closures and a hostile financial environment in the country led heightened levels of bad loans in the month of July. Recent figures from news agencies suggested that only 15% of the taxpayers were able to meet their installments, while the rest were written off as bad debts. However, the situation changed drastically, after the political situation in the country began to stabilize. A total of 80% debtors were able to meet their payments for the last month.
Apart from keeping an oversight of Greek banks, the new group would also help the economy ministry of the country in revising its financial policies. The ministry stated that the move would help them develop a recapitalization framework, which would help guide the new government towards making right decisions. The IMF, ECB and EU would be sending representatives for the new group, since these three are the only major creditors for the country. The exciting news has attracted significant attention to Greek stocks, which had otherwise been on a path of total decline. The NBG, alone has suffered a loss of more than 60% to its share value, since the beginning of this year.
National Bank of Greece (ADR) (NYSE:NBG) gained 5.14% during the September 16 session, to reach a close at a share price of $0.7, after experiencing trade volumes of 4,800.
