Greece's Piraeus Bank second-quarter profit more than doubles

ATHENS (Reuters) -Piraeus Bank, Greece's third-largest lender by market value, on Wednesday reported that its second-quarter profit more than doubled, helped by higher revenues from interests and fees.

Net profit came in at 330 million euros ($356.96 million) in the second quarter to June, up from 120 million euros in the same period a year ago.

Greek lenders are returning to normality after three recapitalisations that led to their nationalisation in the previous decade, when the country was rocked by a financial meltdown in late 2009.

After cutting their bad loan ratios, reducing state participation and turning profitable, they received approval this year from by the European Central Bank to resume dividend payments after 16 years.

"So far, 2024 is turning into a milestone year for Piraeus. Following the return to full privatisation status, the group paid a cash dividend to its shareholders in July, amounting to €79mn," the bank said in a statement.

On the back of higher interest margins, Piraeus Bank, which was fully privatised earlier this year, raised its 2024 net profit guidance last month to about 1 billion euros versus its previous guidance of about 900 million euros.

Separately on Wednesday, EFG Eurobank, Greece's second-largest lender by market capitalisation, reported a 5.4% rise in first-half net profit to 721 million euros, compared with 684 million euros in the first half of 2023.

Net interest income rose to 1.13 billion euros, up 8.6% year on year, driven by loans, bonds and international business, the bank said in a statement.

The bank's non-performing exposure (NPE) ratio fell to 3.1% from 5.2% year-on-year.

In the past few years, Greek banks have cut their (NPE) ratios to below 6% from 45% in 2016.

($1 = 0.9245 euros)

(Reporting by Gdansk, Angeliki Koutantou, Karolina Tagaris. Editing by Louise Heavens and Jane Merriman)