Jefferies sees containment, normalisation on Greek banks after Q2

Piraeus Bank SA

14/08/2023 09:52

** While Jefferies praises Q2 boost of performance for Greek
banks, driven by rising interest rates and strong economic
activity, it sees that the focus after Q2 will shift to the
individual banks' ability to contain deposit pass-through and
normalise provisions 
    ** The broker keeps National Bank of Greece (NBG)  NBGr.AT ,
the country's second-largest lender by market value, as its top
pick
    ** Jefferies upgrades NBG to "buy" and raises target price
to 7.4 euros from 7.3 euros, saying the lender's solid funding
base implies sensitivity to higher rates, but the high CET1
ratio opens the path for return to dividend payments
    ** Jefferies keeps Piraeus Bank  BOPr.AT , Greece's
third-largest lender by market value, on "hold" and ups target
price to 3.1 euros, from 2.7 euros, citing the weak starting
CET1 position, but expecting positive capital build, despite
higher provisions
    ** The broker retains "hold" for Eurobank  EURBr.AT  and
price target at 1.7 euros for Greece's largest lender by market
value, pointing to Eurobank's "solid" capital and asset quality
metrics
    ** The broker downgrades Alpha Bank  ACBr.AT , Greece's
fourth-largest lender by market value, to "underperform" on
lenders' low coverage and high non-performing loans (NPLs)
    ** Jefferies says that the weaker volume growth in near-term
may also weigh on fee income and sees limited valuation discount
to Alpha's S.Europe peers 



 (Reporting by Antonis Triantafyllou)
 ((antonis.triantafyllou@thomsonreuters.com))