The sale of this type of asset is expected to accelerate again this year, reaching a new high, according to the research bulletin that updates the study "Investing in NPL in Portugal: The Time is Now!", presented this week at the European conference " NPL Europe - Spring Conference ". The consultant calculates that were traded NPL portfolios in an amount over €2 billion last year, which is expected to increase by “at least” 20% this year.
Nelson Rêgo, CEO of Prime Yield, said that "very relevant steps have been taken in reducing the NPL stock in the Portuguese banking system in the last year, which is a factor known by the European authorities. But Portugal is still under a lot of pressure, since it remains among the European Union countries where the non-performing ratio regarding the total of loans is higher."
On the other hand, he refers that "the portfolio pipeline of NPLs to transact continues to be quite expressive given this pressure, and several banking institutions have already announced their intention to reinforce the sale of portfolios of this type of credit this year. This, associated with the improvement in economic conditions, which allows for very good projections for credit recovery, it will definitely whet investors' appetite for these types of portfolios, especially for credits with real estate as security." But he warns that “the main issue is still the mismatch between the expectations of sellers and investors”.
This report, which quotes data from the Bank of Portugal, points out that the stock of NPLs in Portugal in June of last year amounted to €42.2 billion, already 16.5% below the €50.5 billion registered one year before that date. The non-performing ratio dropped from 17.9 per cent to 15.5 per cent this year but remains the 3rd highest in the EU, only surpassed by Greece and Cyprus, 3 times above the European average.