UPDATE 1-NBG nine-month profit down 74 pct, beats forecast

ATHENS, Nov 29 (Reuters) - National Bank, Greece's biggest lender, reported a 74 percent drop in nine-month net profit, hurt by tax charges, mark-to-market bond portfolio losses and continued loan-loss provisions.

NBG's results on Monday showed it has become tougher for banks to remain profitable in the severe Greek recession, which has hit the quality of their loan portfolios.

Net earnings dropped to 259 million euros ($339 million) from 1.01 billion euros the previous year and compared with a forecast for 244.3 million in a Reuters poll.

Chief Executive Apostolos Tamvakakis said despite the adverse economic conditions in Greece, NBG was still making money, had good liquidity and a strong capital base.

'The sustainability of NBG's core profitability in Greece, coupled with the ongoing dynamic growth of Finansbank in Turkey and the stabilisation of our business in SE Europe, highlight the Group's resilience in the context of today's very adverse market conditions,' he said.

NBG's loan-loss provisions increased 35 percent to 991 million euros, while income from lending rose 7 percent to 3.11 billion euros, helped by its Turkish subsidiary, Finansbank , whose net earnings grew by 4 percent.

In October, the lender strengthened its balance sheet via a 1.8 billion euro rights issue and is eyeing proceeds of another billion from the sale of a minority stake in Finansbank.

NBG, which passed a European stress test in July, said last week it had increased credit lines with foreign lenders to 5.5 billion euros, gradually regaining access to the interbank market.

(Reporting by George Georgiopoulos and Harry Papachristou; Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords: NBG/ ([e-mail]; [phone]; Reuters Messaging:[e-mail]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.