S&P has upgraded the credit profile of Greek banks against the backdrop of improving financial figures and the upward trajectory of the Greek economy. The US rating agency highlights enhanced resilience in the Greek banking system.

Specifically, regarding National Bank and Eurobank, both banks received investment-grade ratings. More precisely, National Bank of Greece was rated BBB- with a stable outlook. The agency assigned the same rating to Eurobank, classifying both banks at investment grade. Meanwhile, Alpha Bank’s rating remained stable at BB+ with a stable outlook.

At the same rating level, the agency also upgraded Piraeus Bank to BB+ with a stable outlook. The upgrade was driven by capital adequacy and the profitability of the Greek banking system.

Additionally, S&P upgraded Aegean Baltic Bank’s long-term credit rating to BB from BB-, maintaining a stable outlook.

S&P Global Ratings’ positive decision is part of a series of successive upgrades for Greek banks, with the agency citing, among other factors, a stronger institutional framework and improved bank capital quality.

According to S&P, the Bank of Greece has played a key role in implementing initiatives to accelerate the cleanup of the Greek banking system after a decade of financial crisis. The regulatory authority has also supported banks in their efforts to tackle the large stock of non-performing exposures (NPEs), working in collaboration with the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) of the ECB, the Ministry of National Economy and Finance, and the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF).

Specifically, the Hercules scheme proved successful, helping banks securitize and remove old non-performing exposures from their balance sheets. This led to a significant improvement in risk profiles, with the Greek banking system’s NPE ratio dropping to 4.6% at the end of September 2024 from 56.3% at the end of 2016.