Priya Patel
TLDR:
Aegean Baltic Bank, a niche Greek lender, is planning to pursue new deals in the highly competitive ship finance domestic market. Despite loan portfolios being impacted by prepayments in 2023, ABBank has managed to keep its credit volumes stable. The bank closed 2023 with approximately €506m ($550m) worth of gross loans, only slightly down from €519m in 2022. Now, ABBank is exploring new kinds of deals and partnerships as it looks to take advantage of its healthy profits and capital buffers.
Aegean Baltic Bank, a niche Greek lender, is planning to pursue new deals in the highly competitive ship finance domestic market. After a year in which shipping banks saw loan portfolios hurt by a wave of prepayments, ABBank has managed to keep its credit volumes broadly stable. The bank closed 2023 with about €506m ($550m) worth of gross loans, just shy of the €519m it had at the end of 2022. Now, ABBank is exploring new kinds of deals and partnerships as it looks to take advantage of its healthy profits and capital buffers.
Despite the challenges faced by shipping banks, ABBank has enjoyed robust profitability, with net revenue of €22.5m in 2023. The bank also has a strong capital buffer, with a fully-loaded core tier 1 capital ratio of 28.19%. Anastasios Afthonidis, vice president and head of strategy at ABBank, stated, “We have managed to maintain our credit volumes in a challenging market and, through our intact credit underwriting and risk processes, achieve a healthy balance between maintaining a prudent loan book and allowing it to run off as expected part of our business model.”
ABBank is now looking to expand its presence in the market by exploring new types of deals and partnerships. Afthonidis mentioned that the bank is aiming to finance secondhand vessels and finance the installation of retrofit scrubbers. The bank is also considering investment opportunities in the growing offshore wind energy sector. However, Afthonidis also acknowledged that the competition is tough, with many Greek banks looking to enter the ship finance market.
Overall, ABBank is optimistic about the future and is focused on maintaining its niche position in the market. Afthonidis concluded, “Our goal is to continue to operate in a focused and transparent manner and continue to expand our footprint within our niche domestic market by exploring value-adding partnerships where we can leverage our know-how and, of course, our ability to generate seamless value across the financing solution chain.”
