Fitch Says Greek Banks Closely Tied To Sovereign Developments
Fitch Ratings Thursday said that the four major Greek banks΄ financial performance and risk profile will largely depend on sovereign developments in Greece.
The fiscal and macroeconomic deterioration in Greece in conjunction with the multiple downgrades of Greece΄s sovereign rating (΄BBB-΄/Negative)
has in Fitch΄s opinion led to a close correlation between Greek sovereign and Greek bank risk, the firm noted in a report.
Consequently, the Long-term Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) of Greece΄s four largest banks are now underpinned by Fitch΄s assessment of sovereign and international support, are on their Support Rating Floor of ΄BBB-΄ and equalised with Greece΄s sovereign rating. Any negative rating action on Greece is likely to be mirrored in the ratings of Greek banks. Greece΄s four largest commercial banks are National Bank of Greece (NBG), Efg Eurobank Ergasias (Eurobank), Alpha Bank (Alpha) and Piraeus Bank (Piraeus).
"Given Fitch΄s forecasts of negative GDP growth continuing in Greece for 2011, Greek banks are likely to see slower credit demand, higher levels of impaired loans and subdued domestic performance", says Cristina Torrella, Senior Director in Fitch΄s Financial Institutions team. "Fitch does not believe impaired loans have peaked and the uncertainty surrounding the impact of recent and upcoming fiscal tightening in Greece will have on the real economy makes impaired loans predictions increasingly difficult. Fitch would expect impaired loans to continue increasing until at least mid-2011 before levelling off."
Profitability pressure from sustained high loan impairment charges in 2011 could, however, be partly offset by continued loan re-pricing, further cost control, expected lower marked-to-market trading losses following the reclassification of Greek government securities into held-to-maturity portfolios, and better prospects in foreign markets in Southeast Europe and, in the case of NBG, Turkey which benefit from high-margin lending, the firm said.
Fitch recognises banks΄ strong domestic and deposit franchises, some business and geographic diversification and adequate capital adequacy (with tier 1 capital ratio ranging from 8.7% to 11.4%). However, banks΄ suppressed profitability, particularly in the domestic operations, weak liquidity and funding profile with high reliance on ECB funding (20% to 26% of end-H110 total assets) and considerable exposure to the Greek government, largely through sizeable holdings of Greek government paper, are reflected in the major banks΄ ΄D΄ Individual Rating.
Despite attempts to improve their deposit franchises, gradual balance sheet deleveraging and tentative signs of a reopening of commercial wholesale funding market to Greek banks, Fitch believes that all Greek banks will remain heavily dependent on ECB funding for the foreseeable future. Consequently, the banks΄ funding and liquidity profiles are highly susceptible to any changes in the ECB asset eligibility criteria. Limited wholesale funding maturities in the next two years, combined with low funding needs from the banking business, partly counterbalance risks.
The level of major Greek banks΄ capital adequacy is adequate, but the current macroeconomic environment requires, in Fitch΄s view, significant capital buffers above the regulatory minimum to cover anticipated credit losses. To this end, banks are seeking alternatives to support capital, as reflects NBG΄s recent share capital increase and Piraeus΄ recent capital increase announcement.
(Capital.gr)