"There is no doubt that successful NPE management will be the litmus test for us," CEO Fokion Karavias told Reuters in an interview. "We are fully aware of the challenge, but recent results allow room for rational optimism." Banks have been under regulatory pressure to tackle the bad debt problem, which restricts their ability to expand credit and assist the economy's recovery. European Central Bank board member Benoit Coeure said this month reducing the burden of sour debt should be a top policy priority for Greece's banking sector. "There is a strict, specific and granular plan agreed with our regulators on which Eurobank overperformed in 2017. We have a vastly improved institutional framework now in place and are on track to outperform again this year," Karavias said.