The American house Fitch Ratings upgraded Ethniki, Eurobank and Piraeus to BB with a stable outlook. Justifying its decision, it refers to the progress made in reducing non-performing exposures (NPEs), strengthening their balance sheet and improving their capital ratios due to higher interest rates and the spread between lending rates and deposit rates .

The national team

Fitch Ratings announced today, Tuesday, September 18, the upgrade of the long-term debt of National Bank to “BB” from “BB-” and the sustainability rating to “bb” from “bb-” with a stable outlook.

According to the house, National Bank’s upgrade reflects the structural improvement in profitability from higher ECB interest rates and low deposit rates, careful cost management and the normalization of impairment charges following its successful balance sheet de-risking strategy. This has allowed Ethniki Bank to accumulate capital well above regulatory requirements and has provided flexibility to carry out investment and development initiatives, which Fitch expects to strengthen the viability of the bank’s business model.

SOURCE: Moneyreview