BOCH sees ‘reasonable’ profits in 2018, new provisions to help cut down on NPLs

Bank of Cyprus Holdings announced it will change to the way it provides against delinquent loans on its balance sheet, which will result in the Group allocating an additional EUR 500 mln of its capital - through making additional provisions - against these risks.

The bank said in an announcement that this additional provisioning, aimed at further accelerating balance sheet de-risking, will also help the Group draw a line under its discussions with the European Central Bank on the levels of provisioning that the ECB expects to see against such non-performing loans.

“It is too early to go into detail on what these transformational initiatives could include but it suffices to say that detailed work is underway with a number of external counterparties,” it said.

The Group said that although allocating an incremental EUR 500 mln of capital to derisk the balance sheet through increased provision coverage will result in a loss of approximately EUR 550 mln for the first half of 2017, the strength of the Group’s capital position has allowed it to accommodate this without the need to raise any additional core equity capital.

“The landmark EUR 1 bln equity raised in the summer of 2014 has to date proven sufficient to support the Group’s recovery and allowed it support the recovering Cyprus economy. The Group does not expect to have to raise any further core equity and expects to re-build further strength in its capital base during 2018 through posting results which will reflect a more conventional credit-cycle cost,” it said.

Previously, the Group had anticipated a near-zero result for the full year with its operating profits being utilised to support further balance sheet de-risking, adding that this essentially meant that any operating profits made were being utilised to increase provisioning against risk in the balance sheet.

It added that although the Group expects its operating profits in the second half of 2017 to be utilised to further de-risk its balance sheet, management expects a return to more normal provisioning levels in 2018 and, all other things being equal, to more meaningful positive profitability.

The Group recognises its

role

in supporting the recovering Cyprus economy through the provision of credit to creditworthy businesses.

To this end, the Group has provided approximately EUR 1 bln of new lending to the Cyprus economy in 2016 and a similar level of lending during the first half of 2017.

“Maintaining a flow of lending, tackling legacy non-performing loans, modernising the Group, sustaining customer confidence and recovering societal trust remain priorities for the Group. The Group will continue all efforts to recover full value from delinquent borrowers,” it noted.

The Group said it continues to make steady progress in its journey back to full strength. Capital levels remain adequate, deposit levels are stable and now more than fully fund the loan book and non-performing loan balances have declined steadily over the past nine quarters and provision coverage levels against non-performing loans have steadily risen each quarter.

“The operating performance of the Group is reasonable and an essential modernisation programme is underway. Management remains entirely focused on completing this journey and recognises that there is more to do before the repair can be declared complete,” it added.

As at March 31, 2017, the Group’s total assets amounted to EUR 22.5 bln and total equity was EUR 3.1 bln.