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Alpha Bank Closes 2025 With €943M In Net Profits And Unyielding Growth

Decisive Year For Strategic Transformation

Alpha Bank has reported net profits of €943.3 million for 2025, capping a period marked by strategic transformation and robust financial execution. As part of this decisive year, the bank announced a €519 million dividend distribution to shareholders, underscoring both immediate financial success and long‐term growth potential.

Executing A Bold Three-Year Plan

CEO Vassilis Psaltis said 2025 marked the completion of the bank’s three-year strategy, during which Alpha Bank met or exceeded key operational and financial targets. The period included acquisitions such as AstroBank, which expanded the bank’s regional presence and supported diversification across business segments.

Strong Financial And Operational Metrics

In the fourth quarter, net interest income reached €413.3 million, up 3% quarter over quarter. On an annual basis, net interest income declined 2%, reflecting lower lending margins despite higher loan volumes. The bank reported a return on tangible equity of 13.1% based on adjusted profit, adjusted earnings per share of €0.36 for the quarter, and a fully loaded CET1 ratio of 15%.

Accelerated Loan Disbursements And Credit Growth

New loan disbursements in Greece reached €4.2 billion in the fourth quarter, representing a 40% increase from the previous quarter and a 4% rise year over year. Quarterly net credit expansion totaled €1.3 billion, driven mainly by business lending, while annual net credit growth reached €3.5 billion. Management said commercial lending activity remained strong despite elevated repayment levels.

Diversification And Enhanced Revenue Streams

Customer funds increased 11.5% year over year, supported by an 8% rise in deposits, or 4% excluding AstroBank’s contribution. Assets under management also expanded, with equities and mutual funds rising 28% annually. Deposits grew by €4.1 billion, including €2.2 billion linked to the AstroBank acquisition. Net fee income increased 19% and represented 23% of total revenues, reflecting growth in transaction banking and asset management services.

Stable Asset Quality And Forward Outlook

The non-performing exposure ratio stood at 3.6%, while the cost of credit risk was 58 basis points in the fourth quarter. The CET1 ratio remained stable at 15%, supported by organic profitability. Management said the bank expects continued growth opportunities in its core markets and highlighted ongoing cooperation with UniCredit in advisory and investment banking services.

A Future Anchored In Disciplined Execution

Looking ahead, Alpha Bank plans to present updated strategic targets at its Investor Day scheduled for the second quarter of 2026. The bank said it enters 2026 with strengthened capital, expanded regional operations, and a continued focus on disciplined execution and shareholder returns.

Copyright Law Struggles To Keep Up With AI Training

Courts Are Still Applying Old Copyright Rules To AI

AI companies train models on enormous amounts of published material, including books, articles and academic research. Whether using that content without authors’ permission violates copyright law remains unresolved.

Much of the debate centres on fair use, which allows copyrighted material to be used without permission in certain circumstances. Courts consider factors such as the purpose of the use, how much material was involved and its impact on the original market.

Anthropic Case Sets An Important Precedent

A major case involving Anthropic and a group of authors provided one of the clearest rulings so far. Judge William Alsup found that using copyrighted books to train AI models was lawful, comparing the process to people reading and studying literature before creating something new.

Anthropic was nevertheless ordered to pay $1.5 billion in a settlement. The penalty concerned books the company had obtained from illegal online libraries rather than the AI training itself.

For AI companies, that distinction could prove significant because it separates studying copyrighted material from directly copying it.

Competition Could Be The Key Issue

A case involving Thomson Reuters and Ross Intelligence offers a different perspective. A court ruled that Ross could not claim fair use after using Reuters’ copyrighted material to develop a competing AI-powered legal research platform.

The decision suggests courts may be less willing to consider AI training fair use when copyrighted content is used to build a product that directly competes with the original.

For authors, an unresolved question is whether AI-generated content should be considered competition for the works used to train these models.

The Law Has Yet To Catch Up

US copyright law predates generative AI by decades, leaving courts to apply old principles to new technology. Questions also remain over copyright protection for AI-generated works. In Thaler v. Perlmutter, a court ruled that material created entirely by AI cannot receive copyright protection.

Major AI companies remain involved in copyright litigation, and different courts could reach different conclusions. For now, there is no universal rule: the legality of AI training will depend on the circumstances of each case and how courts ultimately interpret copyright and fair use.

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