Greece: NBG to sell € 2bil consumer/SBL unsecured NPL portfolio

According to press reports, NBG is expected to proceed with selling a € 2bil consumer NPL portfolio in the late 1H 2018. The portfolio sale which is to be named “project Earth”, will consist of credit card debt, cash overdrafts, unsecured consumer and small businesses’ loans.

According to bank sources not named in the press, new aggressive settlement programs have so far made an important contribution to reducing the bank’s NPLs (especially mortages). Since this summer, NBG has been offering debt relief if the borrower can consistently serve the “live” portion of the loan. More specifically, if the borrower can effectively serve a portion of the loan equal to the value of the mortgaged assets, then the bank offers a 4% “haircut” for the rest of the loan that remains “frozen” for 15 years.

At the end of Q3 2017 the bank reported a total of about 18.5bil€ NPEs and is close to the target for 2017 that is € 18bil. After the scheduled sale of “Earth” the bank is expected to achieve the target for 2018 that is total NPEs of € 16bil.