Alpha Bank's profit down 43% in Q3

The gross profit reported by Greek financial group Alpha Bank
for operations conducted in Romania in the third quarter fell by
43%, to 8.3 million euros. The decline was steeper than in the
second quarter, when profit was 31% lower than in the similar
period of 2008. In the first nine months of the year, the Greeks
posted a 43 million-euro gross profit, 10% less than in the same
period of 2008, according to data presented in Athens by Alpha
Bank. Bank officials had not commented on the data by the time this
issue was ready for print. Similarly to the other players on the
Romanian market, Alpha Bank was affected by the rise in loan loss
provisions, which climbed by 27 million euros, to 46.5 million
euros in the third quarter. The fast rise in provisions came in the
context where the share of non-performing loans (whose payments are
more than 90 days overdue) climbed to 2% of the overall portfolio,
compared with 1.3% in June. In September last year, they accounted
for just 0.4% of the overall portfolio.