FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The euro zone's top banks shed some 30 billion euros (26 billion pounds) worth of unpaid loans in the three months to September, in a new sign that European Central Bank pressure to clean up their balance sheets is bearing fruit. The ECB wants banks to sell or provision for the bad debt they've inherited from the last recession so they can focus on extending fresh credit and are better prepared to withstand any new downturn. ECB data showed non-performing loans and advances held by the euro zone's 107 top banks fell to 627.7 billion euros, or 4.17 percent of the total, in the third quarter of last year. That was down from 657.15 billion euro, or 4.40 percent of the total, and the end of the second quarter. Large falls were seen in Cyprus, Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain, and also in Germany. Soured credit inherited from the last recession still accounted for a fifth of the loan book of Cypriot banks and for 40 percent of bank credit in Greece. The ECB has … [Read more...] about Euro zone banks shed 30 billion euros of bad debt in Third quarter
Bad debts
Central bank instructed to focus on bad debt settlement in 2019
Viet Nam News HÀ NỘI — The Government has directed the State Bank of Việt Nam (SBV) to focus on the settlement of non-performing loans (NPLs) in 2019 with the aim of bringing the NPL ratio of credit institutions – excluding those sold to the Việt Nam Asset Management Company (VAMC) – to below 2 per cent from the current 2.16 per cent. SBV must also urge the VAMC to recover bad debts it bought from credit institutions so that the total NPLs of the entire banking systems can be reduced from the current 6.6 per cent of total outstanding loans to below 5 per cent, the Government noted in a resolution released early this week. To meet the target, the Government requires the SBV to implement legal regulations issued in the past two years to settle bad debts, including the National Assembly’s Resolution 42/2017/QH on settling bad debts of credit institutions, the revised Law on Credit Institutions and the Government’s project on … [Read more...] about Central bank instructed to focus on bad debt settlement in 2019
Ireland’s PTSB to cut bad debt levels with securitisation deal
By Graham FahyDUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish financial services firm Permanent TSB (PTSB) said on Thursday it had agreed to sell a 1.3 billion euro ($1.5 billion)portfolio of problem mortgage loans in a securitisation deal, reducing its bad debt level to below 10 percent.gi Bailed out like other major Irish banks in the financial crisis, PTSB has been trying to reduce its exposure to non-performing loans (NPLs) and focus on providing services for consumers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).CEO Jeremy Masding said the securitisation deal "reduces the NPL ratio to less than 10 percent thereby enabling PTSB to continue to compete in the Irish retail and SME banking market."The bad loan ratio was about 26 percent on Jan. 1 this year.Irish banks are under pressure from the European Central Bank to reduce bad loans which ballooned after Ireland's property crash. PTSB is 75 percent state-owned.Most of the 6,272 mortgages in the sale were restructured but are classified as non-performing … [Read more...] about Ireland’s PTSB to cut bad debt levels with securitisation deal
Exclusive: HNA in talks with bad debt firm Cinda as it extends $43 billion asset sales
By Kane Wu and Julie ZhuHONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese conglomerate HNA Group [HNAIRC.UL] has turned to state-owned China Cinda Asset Management Co <1359.HK>, among the country's largest bad debt managers, for advice on asset disposals, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.gi HNA Group's vice president, Dennis Chen, the nephew of its chairman Chen Feng, met with Cinda President Chen Xiaozhou on Tuesday to discuss cooperation, according to the people, who declined to be named as the information is confidential. It was not immediately clear what role Beijing-based Cinda is playing in HNA's asset disposals, but at the meeting, Cinda told HNA it stood ready to help, according to an internal memo sent to HNA staff and reviewed by Reuters. "Cinda will continue to support HNA's strategic transformation and its asset disposals in core and auxiliary businesses," Cinda's president said, according to the memo."Especially when HNA is in a relatively difficult time, there is all … [Read more...] about Exclusive: HNA in talks with bad debt firm Cinda as it extends $43 billion asset sales
Credit institutions urged to resolve bad debts
Viet Nam News HÀ NỘI – Governor of the State Bank of Việt Nam Lê Minh Hưng has urged credit institutions and foreign banks’ branches to further speed up the settlement of non-performing loans (NPLs). Under Document No 8425/NHNN-TTGSNH issued last week, the Governor instructed the institutions to better implement Directive No 05/CT-NHNN, which was issued in September to regulate the structure of credit institutions associated with dealing with bad debts in the 2016-20 period. Accordingly, credit institutions must review and provide detailed roadmaps and solutions for settling their bad debts every year until 2022. Credit institutions are also required to actively look for buyers for the debts they sold to the Việt Nam Asset Management Company (VAMC). Previously, banks had to sell their debts to the VAMC to keep their NPL ratios below 3 per cent as regulated by the central bank, but they still had to make provision for the debts. … [Read more...] about Credit institutions urged to resolve bad debts