National Bank of Greece on Friday reported 48 million euros in profits in the Jan-Sept. 2018 period  at the group level, compared with damages of 103 million euros in the corresponding period of 2017. In  press release, the NBG also emphasized that NPEs fell for a 10th straight quarter. In his remarks, NBG CEO Pavlos Mylonas noted: "Economic conditions are steadily improving in Greece, and these developments should support NBG’s organic profitability as well as organic NPE reduction going forward. It will also facilitate NPE sales, especially as these will include loans with real estate collaterals. Indeed, house prices are up by 3.7% yoy in Q3.  In this environment NBG’s comparative advantage of a high provision coverage of 60% will allow it to be more aggressive . NBG submitted recently a new NPE strategy to the SSM, committing to a reduction of €10bn by the end of 2021. Our operating profitability performance in the 9M.18 stood at €84m, contrasting sharply with a loss of €75m in the 9M.17. This notable improvement has been achieved due to a sustainable reduction in credit risk charges to c110bps, after achieving high provision coverage ratios. Following a sharp drop in NII, due to both deleveraging as well as new accounting standards, NII reached a trough in the past two quarters and is expected to begin to recover as corporate lending disbursements accelerate in 4Q to a level in excess of €1bn. At the same time, NII quality has improved retaining a limited reliance on NPE interest. Operating costs will quickly benefit from the ongoing VRS, which will exceed 500 FTEs in 2018 as well as the ongoing programme of branch footprint optimization."