LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - Concise insights on global finance in the Covid-19 era. ------------------------------------------------- AUDACITY OF HOPE. Calling the bottom on Greek banks has been a triumph of optimism over experience. Still, there is reason to believe that 1.2 billion euro Alpha Bank, in which U.S. investor John Paulson has a 7% shareholding, is on the mend after it agreed a deal on Monday to offload 10.8 billion euros in bad debts, the second-largest such deal in Europe. The fix, which sent shares up 5%, involves securitising dud credits, and selling the riskiest tranches to hedge fund Davidson Kempner. By roughly halving his overall non-performing loan ratio to 13%, Chief Executive Vassilios Psaltis predicts lower future credit losses will enhance Alpha’s measly return on tangible equity. Assume projected 2022 bad debt charges fall by 50%, in line with the overall reduction in NPLs, to 280 million euros. Alpha’s ROTE could more than double to 5%, according to a Breakingviews calculation using Refinitiv data. Yet its shares are priced at just 15% of tangible book value, implying a return of perhaps 2%, assuming a 10% cost of capital. Paulson may finally have reason to cheer. (By Christopher Thompson) BREAKINGVIEWS Reuters Breakingviews is the world"s leading source of agenda-setting financial insight. As the Reuters brand for financial commentary, we dissect the big business and economic stories as they break around the world every day. A global team of about 30 correspondents in New York, London, Hong Kong and other major cities provides expert analysis in real time. Sign up for a free trial of our full service at https://www.breakingviews.com/trial and follow us on Twitter @Breakingviews and at www.breakingviews.com. All opinions expressed are those of the authors. MORE FROM REUTERS