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Alpha Bank management had a teleconference with investors – What is the plan for the Galaxy project

Alpha bank management team had a teleconference yesterday with investors. The teleconference was organized by JP Morgan, and the main topics of discussion were the impact of the pandemic and the progress of the Galaxy project.

The bank management message was encouraging and strong. JP Morgan on the other hand believes that the crisis caused by the pandemic will certainly have an impact on the plan progress of Alpha Bank and the all the Greek banks, but the decisive moves of the European and Greek authorities (the ECB’s package and the government fiscal measures) will reduce the negative impact, possibly with a V-type recovery in the Greek economy.

The new guidance by the Alpha Bank management for 2020 suggests a relatively limited impact on pre-forecast operating profits, but the main uncertainty is the cost of risk.

In the bank’s portfolio of loans, the total exposure to crisis-affected enterprises and SMEs amounts to €4.4 bn (9% of gross loans), of which €1.5 bn are in the hospitality sector.

The Galaxy project remains the focus of the bank’s strategy, but it may slightly change. The management stressed that the first phase of the project was successful, attracting strong investment interest and hopes that the ongoing preparatory work will allow a faster execution of the project when market conditions normalize.

For now the basic scenario remains that the transaction will resume in the second half of the year. The management commented that the bank could consider a possible review or change of the size of the €12 bn of securitization, e.g. with the execution of parts of the portfolio this year and the rest next year.

Original Source: Capital

Adaptation/Summary: Kiki Athanasiadis