As has been the case in recent years, European lenders are wrestling with asset quality in this year’s Top 1000 World Banks ranking. Non-performing loans (NPLs) rose in Greece, while losses for the banks on the continent remained large. It was not all bad news throughout Europe, however, as Italian lenders managed to reduce their stocks of soured loans and are no longer responsible for some of the largest losses in the ranking.
NPLs continued their upward march at the 'big four' Greek institutions – Piraeus Bank Group, Alphabank, Eurobank Ergasias and National Bank of Greece. However, the highest spike in the country came from the much smaller Attica Bank, where NPLs ballooned by 23 percentage points, to 50.9%.
