National Bank achieved a group-wide profit after tax of €381 million in Q1 2025, reflecting resilient earnings and the continued deceleration of credit risk costs.

The bank recorded a 9% year-on-year decline in net interest income in 1Q2025, in line with 2025 estimates, as a result of a drastic decline in interest rates (~100 bps cumulatively in Q4 2024 and Q1 2025), partially offset by healthy credit expansion, customer deposit hedging, and further optimization of the bank’s deposit mix.

The bank also achieved a 13% year-on-year increase in fees in Q1, with strong performances in both Retail (+15% year-on-year) and Corporate Banking (+35% year-on-year). Cross-selling of investment products continues unabated (investment product commissions +60% y/y), with impressive market share growth in mutual funds in 2024 maintained in Q1 2025.

Furthermore, the bank achieved:

Increased recurring operating expenses by +5% per annum in Q1 2025, reflecting higher staff costs due to increased salaries and variable pay, as well as our investment in human capital, including recruitment and skills development. The cost benefit from the Voluntary Severance Program in Q4 2024 will be fully reflected in the second half of 2025 and beyond

Credit risk costs were 46 bps in 1Q 2025 (49 bps in 4Q 2024), reflecting favorable trends in the quality of our loan portfolio

Return on equity ratio was 19.1%, or 16.5% normalizing for high financial operations income in Q1 2025 (excluding an adjustment on excess CET1 capital above our internal target of 14%), well above our target of >13% for 2025

– Our highly liquid and strongly capitalized Balance Sheet continues to stand out

The +12% annualized growth in performing loans in 1Q 2025 compares favorably with our target of ~8% average loan growth per annum over the next 3 years, with net credit expansion in the quarter of +€0.34bn

Loan disbursements stood at €1.6bn in 1Q2025, up +41% y/y, spearheaded by corporates

The optimization of the corporate clients’ balance sheet that occurred in Q1 2025 was reversed in April 2025, as Corporate Banking deposits increased by +€0.4bn