Banks Continue Sale and Write-Offs of Non-Performing Loans

9 August 2019

The booming real estate market in Portugal is helping the country’s banks reduce their exposure to non-performing real estate assets. Just in the first semester of 2019, Portuguese financial institutions eliminated nearly €2.7 billion in bad debts.

That figure includes asset sales, recoveries and write-offs, as reported in the banks’ results for the first half of the year.

At the end of June, five of the largest banks in Portugal had €17.5 billion in non-performing loans, €2.38 billion euros less than at the end of 2018. As a percentage of their total loan portfolios, the banks, which include CGD, BCP, BPI, Montepio and Santander, lowered the exposure to between 4-7.3%. Novo Banco, however, still has an NPL ratio of 21%.

Original Story: Idealista

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner