National Bank of Greece reported a first-half 2026 profit after tax of €661 million on July 30, 2026, prompting management to raise full-year guidance targets following accelerating net interest income recovery, robust fee growth, and the successful completion of a major cloud-based core banking system transformation.
Financial Performance and Second-Quarter Profitability Metrics
National Bank of Greece presented its financial results for the second quarter on July 30, 2026, revealing accelerating momentum across core income streams that drove the bank to lift multiple full-year targets. The reporting showed first-half 2026 profit after tax reaching €661 million, which translates to earnings per share of €1.45, marking a 3% increase year-over-year. The bank’s normalized return on tangible equity hit 15.5%, while reported figures landed at 15.7%.
Core income momentum picked up pace through the second quarter. Net interest income climbed 2.6% quarter-over-quarter to €555 million in 2Q26, marking a solid recovery from the first quarter trough of 272 basis points in net interest margin. Meanwhile, fee and commission income expanded 14% quarter-over-quarter to reach €129 million, lifting first-half fee growth by 10% year-over-year. Operating efficiency remained tight, with the cost-to-income ratio resting at 35% for the first half.
Guidance Upgrades Driven by Core Momentum
Management stated that first-half performance comfortably fulfills
original targets, allowing the bank to revise several full-year 2026 guidance metrics upward. The updated outlook now projects a net interest margin of approximately 280 basis points, improving upon the previous target of above 275 basis points due to favorable repricing dynamics and volume growth.
Return on tangible equity guidance climbed to above 15% from approximately 15% previously, while earnings per share expectations rose to above €1.40. Additionally, the cost-to-income ratio target improved to approximately 36% from below 37%, reflecting positive operating leverage from incoming revenue growth. At the same time, management maintained its credit expansion target of above €3 billion in net performing loan growth for the year.
Operating expense growth is projected at roughly 8% year-over-year, and the cost of risk is expected to stay below 40 basis points. The bank posted a cost of risk of 38 basis points for the first half, demonstrating stable asset quality even alongside accelerated lending growth.
Cloud Technology Transformation and Artificial Intelligence Rollout
Beyond traditional lending metrics, the institution positioned its technology infrastructure as a core competitive differentiator. The bank highlighted the completion of Greece’s largest banking IT project—a new cloud-based core banking system. The organization noted it stands as the first in Greece and among very few in Europe to deploy such a unified platform, successfully consolidating 40 fragmented legacy applications.
The massive implementation began with corporate loans in October 2023 and wrapped up with customer deposits in May 2026. The project required an investment of more than 500,000 person-days and involved over 1,000 people. According to the bank’s operational disclosures, this overhaul slashed the product catalog from more than 5,000 legacy offerings down to 200 active products, while enabling a threefold increase in time-to-market speed for new functionalities.
In parallel, the institution deployed artificial intelligence capabilities across its front, middle, and back offices. This includes the Sophia digital assistant, which currently handles roughly one-third of customer interactions with a target of reaching over two-thirds by the end of 2026. A contact center AI voice agent was also launched in July 2026, with expectations to offload more than 50% of contact center traffic within six to nine months.
Balance Sheet Strength and Investor Response
The financial update underscored the bank’s capital position, anchored by a CET1 ratio of 17.3% and a total capital adequacy ratio of 21.0%. Management pointed to this fortress balance sheet
as a pillar providing both operational resilience and strategic flexibility for future growth investments and shareholder distributions. At the end of 2025, the financial establishment managed EUR 59.6 billion in current deposits alongside EUR 39.6 billion in current loans, operating across retail banking, corporate and investment banking, global markets, and asset management.
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