Alpha Bank Q2 Profit Beats Forecasts on Strong Interest and Fee Income

Alpha Bank S.A. on Friday reported second-quarter 2026 financial results that significantly surpassed market expectations, driven by robust net interest income and strong fee performance. The Greek bank posted a net profit of €316 million, a figure 32% higher than the consensus analyst estimate of €240 million.

Earnings Beat Expectations

The bank's strong performance was broad-based, with pre-provision profits coming in 4% higher than anticipated. The reported net profit included a positive deferred tax asset recognition of €120 million during the quarter. Normalized profit after tax, a measure of underlying performance, reached €275 million, which was 17% above forecasts.

Key drivers for the quarter included:

• Net Interest Income (NII): Rose 9% year-over-year and 5% quarter-over-quarter, coming in 2% ahead of estimates. The growth was fueled by higher income from loans and bonds, with the net interest margin expanding by 4 basis points to 216 basis points.
• Fee Income: Surpassed expectations by 15%, largely due to a €40 million dividend from Prodea. Excluding this one-time item, fee income grew 24% year-over-year, supported by investment banking activity and income from cards and payments.

Balance Sheet and Asset Quality

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Alpha Bank demonstrated continued loan growth, with performing loan balances increasing by 11% year-over-year, primarily from corporate lending in Greece. Net credit expansion for the second quarter totaled €1.6 billion.

Asset quality metrics also showed improvement. The cost of risk was 39 basis points, below the consensus estimate of 46 basis points. The non-performing exposure (NPE) ratio decreased by 10 basis points to 3.6%, while coverage remained stable at 55%.

Capital Position and Outlook

The bank's fully loaded common equity tier 1 (CET1) ratio, a key measure of financial strength, stood at 14.0%. This represented a 70-basis-point decline from the prior quarter, which the bank attributed to several one-off items including the Alpha Trust deal and the closure of a significant risk transfer transaction.

Looking ahead, Alpha Bank upgraded its full-year 2026 normalized earnings per share guidance to €0.41 from a previous €0.40, which is above the market consensus of €0.39. The bank also announced plans for an interim cash dividend of €124 million in the fourth quarter, subject to regulatory approval, having accrued €273 million for distributions in the first half of the year.