FINANCE: Bad loans still make-up 40% of Cyprus banking system

Non-performing exposures (NPEs) in the Cypriot banking system remained virtually unchanged in August, compared to July, declining by only €15 mln to €16.59 bln, corresponding to 40.4% of total loans.

According to Central Bank of Cyprus data, compared with August 2017, NPEs declined by €5.3 bln, including the securitization of a BOC NPE portfolio amounting to €2.7 bln and the transfer of an NPE package by Alpha Bank amounting to €0.4 bln.

Total non-performing loans (90 days overdue) in August reached €12.96 bln from €12.98 bln the previous month.

Total provisions amounted to 47.9% of NPEs compared with 48.1% the month before amounting to €7.95 bln from €7.99 bln in July.

 Restructured loans declined to €9.21 bln, while restructured loans that continue to be classified as NPEs increased marginally to €6.43 bln.

The majority of NPEs, namely 61.5% or €10.2 bln were household loans, while corporate NPEs amounted to 36.7% (€6.10 bln) of the total, corresponding to. A total of €5.17 bln were NPEs from small and medium enterprises.

Total loans in August amounted to €41.08 bln marking a reduction of €11 mln compared with July. Corporate loans amounted to €15.5 bln, of which €11.49 bln were to SMEs, while household loans amounted to €14.9 bln.