Greece's Alpha Bank Bulgarian Unit Turns to 9-mo Loss of 9.5 Mln Euro

The bank's deposit portfolio increased by 59% on the year to 272 million euro in the January-September period, while its loan portfolio more than doubled to 1.0 billion euro, providing the bank with a 4.1% share on the lending market in Bulgaria, Alpha Bank said in a statement.

Alpha Bank's network in Bulgaria reached 101 branches at the end of September, compared to 66 a year ago.

There were 24 domestically-registered banks and six branches of foreign lenders operating in Bulgaria at the end of September.

Alpha Bank posted a 44.1% rise in nine-month pre-tax profit to 119.3 million euro from operations in southeast Europe (SEE), in which it includes Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania and Cyprus. The bank's operating income from the SEE increased 48.6% on the year to 359.8 million euro.

($ = 0.7683 euro)