National Bank of Greece S.A. (NBG) has announced the successful completion of the 2025 EU-wide stress testing exercise. The test was coordinated by the European Banking Authority (EBA), with input from the European Central Bank (ECB) and national supervisory authorities. NBG participated as part of the EBA sample, which includes the largest banks in the euro area.
The stress test used a static balance sheet approach, taking NBG Group’s financial and capital position as of December 31, 2024, as its starting point. The simulation covered a three-year period from 2025 to 2027 and included both Baseline and Adverse scenarios. The Adverse scenario assumed a severe escalation in geopolitical tensions and new trade restrictions, leading to negative effects on private consumption and investment in Greece and globally. For Greece specifically, this scenario projected a cumulative real GDP decline of -6.1% over three years, inflation at 11.6%, and drops in residential and commercial property prices by -22% and -29%, respectively.
Under these conditions, NBG’s fully loaded Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio at the end of 2027 was just 0.50 percentage points lower than at the start of the exercise (adjusted for CRR3 introduction). This result ranked NBG second among the 51 Significant Institutions directly supervised by the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), and fifth among all 64 banks in the EBA sample.
Within Greece, NBG outperformed its domestic peers, who reported an average CET1 depletion of 1.81 percentage points over three years. During the most challenging year of the simulation, NBG’s maximum CET1 depletion was 1.40 percentage points—0.58 percentage points better than its Greek counterparts’ average.
In contrast, under the Baseline scenario, NBG saw its capital increase by 3.67 percentage points over three years.
According to National Bank of Greece S.A., “The result of the 2025 EU-wide stress test demonstrates NBG Group’s resilience to shocks and ability to maintain solid capital levels, even in conditions of severe economic stress.” The bank also noted progress compared to previous exercises: “Comparing the performance to previous stress test exercises, NBG has achieved notable progress over the past years in strengthening its balance sheet, despite globally challenging economic conditions.”
The bank attributed these results to several factors: “Specifically, the 2025 stress test outcome reflects the successful NPE deleveraging Strategy, the build-up of adequate capital buffers as well as the generation of sustainable profitability, underpinned by strong core income and efficient cost management.”
As further context for its current financial standing, National Bank of Greece S.A.’s Group CET1 ratio stood at 18.9% on June 30, 2025—an increase of 60 basis points since January—factoring in profits for that period and accounting for a planned payout accrual.
