Greece's Piraeus Bank ends 2017 with NPL stock below EU20b vs EU20.1b target, according to a Bloomberg report. For 2018, the Bank projects a credit growth rate of 1% for the Greek banking sector, with the granting of new loans mainly to corporates and SMEs. This will be the first loan growth since the onset of the crisis. Loan growth is expected to come mainly from corporate and SME lending. In 2017 Piraeus, which holds a dominant position in the SMEs market (80% of the SMEs market having a banking relationship with Piraeus Bank), generated close to €2.8bn new loans, ahead of its budget, targeting to be close to €5bn by 2020. Loans to deposit ratio converging towards 100%, signaling the readiness of the Bank to satisfy stronger loan demand coming. The Bank has reduced its ELA reliance significantly to €5.5bn level at the end of 2017 from €12bn at the beginning of the year, currently below €4.5bn. "We have delivered a significant reduction in euro-system funding.