Management Statement

2021 will bring the gradual end of the coronavirus pandemic and the return to normal. The acceleration of mass vaccination is our tool against the pandemic that will allow us to relaunch the economy and return to a new reality. It is estimated that funds from the European recovery instrument Next Generation EU, in conjunction with ensuring favorable financial conditions, will confirm expectations for recovery in the European Union (EU) and Greece from the second semester of 2021 onwards.

At the same time, the coronavirus pandemic accelerates the formation of a new economic and social environment, based on the need to tackle climate change and on the expansion of digital activities. In this context, Attica Bank has already set its digital transformation at the core of its new business plan, taking advantage of the business opportunities created by modern banking products financing the environmental strategy of its customers, as well as the completion of its digital and business transformation and its repositioning in the market both on a digital level and via its branches’ network whose operational model will be modified in order to meet market’s needs.

The publication of the Annual Financial Report for 2020 marks the full and definitive cleanup of Attica Bank’s balance sheet. The Bank, free from the burdens of the past -i.e. large number of NPLs, exposure to ELA over €1 billion, -is successfully completing the complex effort it began in September 2016. At the same time, it is shifting and focusing its efforts on getting back to a path of growth by implementing its new three-year business plan. Implementing this strategy, Attica Bank adopted the principles of sustainable banking and aims to double the Bank’s loan portfolio through funding of corporate entities in the fields of Environment, Energy and Infrastructure as well as small-medium enterprises, self-employed and scientists.

In particular, on 27.04.2021, the Board of Directors decided the “Omega” securitization which includes the loans/credits of the current securitization, known as “Artemis Project”, as well as almost the total of the Bank’s NPLs on 31.12.2020. With “Omega” transaction, Attica Bank’s consecutive securitizations amounting to €3 bln that started in December 2016 will be completed. After the successful completion of “Omega” and Astir 1 and 2 transactions, Attica Bank’s NPL ratio will stand at a pro forma level less than 1%, which is below the european average.

Furthermore, the new financing and refinancing for the FY 2020 stand at c. € 322mln and net loans to deposits ratio at 57%. Moreover, Attica Bank continued to improve its liquidity position compared to FY 2019 by 7.4%.

Attica Bank’s Management, shareholders and employees, are committed to implement in a responsible and effective manner, the Bank’s strategic plan, so that the Bank may play a distinctive and supportive role in the real economy’s growth.