ECONOMY

NPLs united for faster clearance

NPLs united for faster clearance

The portfolio of the Greek banks put into resolution is being transferred to an international consortium, aimed at the faster clearance of the nonperforming loans.

The consortium to undertake the single resolution consists of three international companies with experience in clearance issues, with an announcement to this effect expected from the Bank of Greece within February.

The objective set is the optimum management through the single clearance of the portfolios of 14 banks that have shut down in recent years in Greece. The merging of the clearance procedures will be the first step in the effort to achieve the fastest resolution of the problematic portfolios, part of which could be then transferred to funds that will undertake the part that could not be collected through the single management.

The problematic portfolios add up to about 9 billion euros, concerning all the bad loans from ATEbank, First Business Bank, Probank, Proton Bank, T-Bank and Hellenic Postbank, as well as the cooperative banks Achaiki, Dodecanisou, Evias, Lamias, Lesvou-Limnou, Dytikis Makedonias and Peloponnisou.

Sources say that the consortium which has been selected will not buy the portfolio, but rather will seek – through the operating merger of the clearance procedures – to achieve the best possible management of bad loans so as to recover the greatest possible amount from debtors.

The sale of part of the portfolio will be decided at a later stage when market conditions allow for it and after the introduction of a new institutional framework for the sale of bad loans, which forms part of the government’s negotiations with its creditors.

According to sources from the central bank, which came up with the initiative for the single management, and given the poor quality of the portfolios’ content, only 25 percent of the debts is considered retrievable.

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